Sonic is Gone
by Ak-Asche
Summary: ... Those words stung my ears... Eggman was gone too, but that mattered little after I heard that... When we awoke upon the wreckage of the Egg O' War, I looked so hard for you... We all did... The last thing anyone remembers is the Wave... Why? Why did this happen? WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN? ... No answer... I spent my first day... without my hero... (Archie Sonic Pre-Genesis)
1. Chapter 1: We Live On, Right?

_**Before we get on with the story, I have to make a quick mention. The art serving as the cover of this story belongs to ojamajodoremidokkan on DeviantArt. I attempted to ask her for permission to use the image on the picture's page, however she has yet to give me any response. Looking on her page, I found out that she has no recent activities and hasn't uploaded something since 2008, whether it be a comment, journal or art piece. Needless to say, I don't imagine she's around on that account anymore. Regardless, I do plan to take down the art as soon as I can draw or commission a more fitting piece. Even so, if there is a problem with the art being used, I will gladly remove it. I don't own it, after all.**_

 _ **On to this fanfiction, this is a story based upon an idea I had. "What if, instead of completely erasing the world, the Super Genesis Wave did something else entirely? This is my take on the world recovering from that aftermath... and the unavoidable consequences that have come with it. As the title alludes...**_

* * *

Sonic is Gone...

Two months since the terrible Super Genesis Wave and that's still being felt. Sure. Eggman's missing too, but ... This was never something anyone wanted. No one wants to sacrifice their hero to be rid of the villain.

All of us kept saying that same thing. "He'll show up with that cool guy show-off'y attitude the next day." "He's probably keeping us all in suspense." "There's no way he's really gone." ... ... ...

I've been struggling to fill the hole he left in my chest when I found out... I can't say I'm the worst off, though. At the very least, I'm still trying to figure out what happened. It shouldn't be as hard to figure out what happened to Sonic. I mean, the whole of the Egg o' War is a bunch of blasted apart debris floating on the sea... It actually serves as an island for what's left of it, floating ominously on the waves in aimlessness. It's Round hull means it might never sink. We have to deal with that, seeing it and never forgetting what happened there...

Robotnik and Wily failed. Mobius was safe... but it was left without it's greatest Hero...

We've somehow been allowed two whole months to grieve for what we lost and "bury" our Hero... It all felt Hollow, though. We should have known that Sonic was gone... but we couldn't really face that. Even Nicole claimed that she could still "detect" Sonic The Hedgehog...

And that got me started down the path I now walk. I've all-but dedicated myself solely to finding out what happened to him, where he could be and even finding a way- if possible- to bring my best friend home... He'd do the same for me...

And so, two months of everyone grieving was actually more like one to me. I started my investigations on my own. People probably would have helped if I asked them to, but I didn't want to get their hopes up high, only to potentially smash them back into the ground if all efforts proved futile.

And so, two months later, here I am, sitting at my desk and modifying a pure white computer tablet's circuitry. I had stripped out and replaced many of it's parts, old and new both littering my workbench's space while I took a wire weld to it, a welding mask dawned over my face.

There were multiple devices modded into it: a miniature radio dish installed at the top of the device, communicator and even two miniature cameras installed into both sides of the machine. I was making it so that the tablet could track the Egg o' War's specific type of Genesis Wave and Sonic at the same time AND act as a communicator, recording device and camera- but those extras were miscellany. Its primary function would ever be to directly track the wave's outward path to where-so-ever Sonic also existed. A triangulatory searching mechanism. No matter where he was in the world or beyond, I'd be able to find whatever traces of him there were to be had...

I make it sound simple, but the precise calculations and frequency settings - not to mention signal strength and accuracy that had been tried multiple times- needed to be absolutely correct. It needed to be strong enough, but not so much that the machine was overworked. I was on attempt number 417...

I know. High number for a single month's work. The fact was that I needed to sacrifice whatever activities I didn't necessarily need to be a part of. Effectively, I didn't need to partake in much these days, since Eggman was gone and the bots that WERE still around were, as far as we've seen, all small fries. Busting them and freeing the animals inside was easy enough. Any team could do it, even small-time cadets.

Right. About that. We've been recruiting lately. It wasn't like we were taking in untrained chumps or guys that really didn't know what they were getting into. It was just that much of the fighting was done, so many of the original freedom fighters were done, too.

Sally had her duties back in the kingdom. Amy was just... too broken up to go on with the whole thing. Knuckles? Ever the guardian of that oversized chaos emerald with a mind of it's own. (that somehow gets shattered regardless of it's protector and the whole of the echidna clan. Seriously, what in the world?) Rumor has it that they also have the Chaos Emeralds and guarded them all. Tons of others could be mentioned, but the point stands: not many of the original members aside from myself are left.

Bunnie rabbo- I mean... Bunnie D'Coolette... is essentially the leader, but even she's giving the idea of eventually retirement a thought. I can understand why. It's just not the same without Sonic.

Personally, that very thing is the reason I keep going. I want to keep the group Sonic loved most alive. Maybe, it's because I still hold on to a little hope that he'll be back.

I powered down the torch and placed it aside, taking the mask from my face and placing it down on the bench. After moments of letting the welds cool, I took the table's back-plate into my hand and placed it into it's rightful spot, covering the back. I took a screwdriver in one hand and screws in the other, gently holding the plate in place with my wrist while individually screwing each screw back into place.

Once that was done,I placed the screwdriver aside, my hand picking the tablet up from the surface. Turning it over in my hands, I tiredly stared down at it. "Everything should be perfect, this time. I've exhausted my ideas and myself to zero... It has to work..."

My ears and tails twitched with anticipation. My hands trembled from overuse. The gloves I had on were dirty and somewhat pulled at the seams. I'd need a new pair after I gave this a try.

My thumb pressed the hard-press power button for a few seconds until the tablet vibrated, then released... The screen lit up white, then cycled through it's start up processes, before a voice spoke and my personal symbol loaded onto the screen- A circle with my twin tails inside it. "Welcome, Master Tails. What would you like today?" A girl's voice came from the speakers.

"I'd like to use the DNA Search Module, Cindy."

A loading screen initiated as Cindy spoke again. "Absolutely. One moment while I prepare the search again."

Cindy is like to Nicole- another A.I. She wasn't as progressed, but there was no doubt in my mind that she'd get there before too long. She had the potential to surpass her, if this device stayed intact for long enough. I hope to see that day as much as I hope to see the day Sonic returns.

As the loading screen completed, Our planet was displayed as it appeared in space, surrounded by all the rest of the starry expanse and our moon orbiting. "DNA Search is ready, Master Tails. Whom shall we be searching for today? "

A grin spread across my face. Everything seemed promising this time. "Let's start off easy. Cindy. please find Espio the Chameleon."

The dish atop the tablet twitched to life and quickly turned to find a satellite it could use, before settling in place. The globe of our world quickly grew closer as the sound of rushing wind sounded from the speakers of the device. It wasn't long before the view of clouds was cut through. Dramatic, I know, but this made it more interesting. Cindy liked that sort of thing. "Easy indeed. Our stealthy friend can not hide from the sharp eyes of our little bug friends."

Before long the screen displayed a traditional little village under a night sky. Zooming in, there he was. Espeo, hiding in the shadows of one house of traditional Chun-nanian culture. He seemed to be resting against it's wall, arms folded with a leg supporting his position while the other found it's footing on the wall. Before too long, his colors blended in with wall itself, as any chameleon's does, making him almost invisible. To make it all the easier to make him out, the tablet drew a blue outline around him that told him apart from the wall further.

You might be wondering how it's possible to get such an image in real time. Well, it's not always so easy. This tablet can hijack the systems Eggman had in place that stalked our every move through micro-camera bots, but that isn't really something it can necessarily do all the time, obviously. If there isn't a bot in the area, you'd just get the precise location. If that can't happen due to range issues, it will simply give you a general direction until you follow it for long enough. It's the best I can hope for with Sonic, being that he's not been seen since - ... I'm speaking in redundancy. You get the idea.

I smiled in full at the results and chuckled a little. "That's a far better image than the last time. It's almost like I could reach through and touch him."

"All thanks go to your diligence, Master Tails."

I sighed a bit as I rolled my eyes through a smirk. "Okay, I told you that you don't need to call me Master. We're supposed to be on a friend to friend basis?"

An audible giggle. "And I have repeated the reason for my doing so many a time before. I find the ring of it marvelous. You needn't trouble yourself with it's proper meaning, for I DO consider us friends. However, you gave me free will to use, so exercise it I shall."

With an exasperated sigh, my hand went to my face, even as I smiled. "Well, it's just that you sound even more like a manor maid when you say it like that..."

A hum came from the speakers as an icon of a winking smiley face appeared at the top left of the screen. "And what is so wrong with a bit of proper etiquette? I would think it soothing~." And there came the tease in her.

I shook my head while trying not to roll my eyes again. My hand dropped away from my face while I smiled down at the tablet. "How about we get to the real meat?"

"So, we are ready for another attempt at his local, I assume?"

I took a moment as my smile vanished behind flatness... "... Yeah, let's try again for Sonic. I've done everything I can, so either this works or we're pretty much done."

... It was the first time she was wordless for any amount of time after I was done talking.

The screen zoomed out from Espeo and back to the image of Mobius at large as she spoke. "Very well, Master. With this latest upgrade, there shall be no errors. I will not rest my processors until we find the Master, Sonic."

"Alright," I said, nodding with a slight grin. "Begin, if you're ready. And regardless, thanks for everything, Cindy."

"Bless your kind heart for making it possible, Master. As you command." The globe started to spin as I awaited the results. It was a long process, compared to the other. Might have taken twice as long... no, it was definitely three times as long. My hands were gripped a bit firmly along the tablet's sides as I watched the dish atop fix itself multiple times. Eventually, Cindy's voice came again. "Detection is confirmed, Master... however, I shall need time to finalize anything for certain."

... I don't think my heart has ever sub-sequentially jumped, skipped a beat and gone up into my throat before, but there was the thing that would make it do that, apparently. I took a breath... then let it out in a long sigh. "Finally, something different... T-take all the time you need, Cindy. I've been patient for this long. Hours or days won't be as bad as this month."

"Of course, Master. Time shall be required, but nowhere near a month's time. Possibly less than a day's time, if progress continues at this rate."

A whole day... I had a whole day to myself. Only it was two in the afternoon.

I took a sigh and fell back in my revolving chair as it rolled back a bit and squeaked. "What the heck am I gonna do with a whole day?"

"Pardon my intrusiveness, but perhaps you should take today's remaining time to re-acquaint with your friends. I am more than positive an act such as this might prove beneficial to both yourself and anyone of your choosing."

I hadn't seen much of them since essentially locking myself up in my workshop in stalemate with my project. "Well, that sounds all fine and dandy, but who actually would remember me?" I ended up staring at the ceiling as the A.I. spoke.

"You must not truly think yourself so forgettable. Master, you are a twin-tailed fox fellow with a mind that could- with the right ambition- put any others to shame. You've an incalculable IQ. Four-hundred is the limit to which one can be tried for. It is the same limit you've shown yourself able to break on many occasions."

"And?" I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, dear sweet lord... AND you've several missed call from Ms. Amy Rose! There is currently one unread message."

I blinked my eyes wide. "Wait, wha-"

Ding-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling!

I nearly flipped backwards from my chair as I yelped and flailed in the seat forward! The ringing continued while I shot up from the seat, tails standing on end as I frantically looked around for the phone! "Augh! What?! Where is it?! Where's the phone!? A-aaaaah!" I was a panicked mess, throwing everything that wasn't the phone every which ways!

"Master, Ten feet from your left! It's within the toolbox!"

"Oh,"I uttered. I blinked before turning around and walking over to the toolbox, pressing the lid as it bounced up and released it's lock. I opened the lid and looked inside as the ring got louder. I removed the first container filled with tools and placed it aside as the phone's flashing screen stared me in the face with Amy's contact on screen. It stopped flashing when I picked it's flat exterior up before quickly thumbing the accept option on the touch screen.

I put the receiver up to my ear and spoke. "Hello?"

"Tails! Finally! I was trying to call you all afternoon!"

An urk sounded from my throat as I nervously smiled. "S-sorry. I had my phone in the toolbox of all places..."

She let out a sigh right before she spoke again. "Yeah, that just tells me that I was right to worry. Everyone kept saying you were probably just fine but... I know better."

I frowned and furrowed my brows while I paced around in the shop. "Really. I-I'm not that bad off... It's nothing compared to what you and Sally felt, I can bet."

"Oh... Oh, Tails. What the crud? You know I'd never compare my feelings to yours... even if she might. Ugh."

I sighed and scrunched a cheek when I heard that, stopping in place. "Amy, Please. Don't be so hard on her. She knew him longer than any of us."

"Tails, how ca-... Mh... No. No, nevermind. I know we all hurt. I'm just... I guess she's always been my rival." Rival. Right. Hah. Like there was any competition. Sonic couldn't ever date Amy for real, because he knew her true age. In reality, Amy's closer to my age, even if her body was progressed to his with that ring. Man, did THAT take a bit to get used to...

I shrugged to myself and shook my head as my frown deepened and bowed my head. "Well, I.. really think you two should stop that. The last argument you two had was... especially hard to watch, much less hear... And Sally was a sobbing mess of emotions afterwards..."

Her tone got softer. "... I know... 'M sorry, Tails. But... forget about that for now. It's not really why I called."

I blinked as I rose my head and cocked a brow. "Oh? Well, what's up? Anything I can do? I'm finally free from..." I looked over at the tablet as it went on with Cindy's scan for our hero. Shaking my head, I decided not to say much about it, yet. "...Well, my special project. I've been at it for near constant this entire month, but it's finally working like it should, so I'm all up for everything and anything."

"Well, then how about um... Come.. get a chilli dog with me?" My ears flicked and my eyes blinked wide as she went on. "It's a weird thing to ask, I know. I only ever ate those things when Sonic was around... but I know you both liked them, so.. yeah. Why not? I'm not so shameless a lady to eat one or two. So, want to come along?"

To be perfectly honest, the first place my head went was "is she asking me out," but no. I knew more than anyone that her heart belonged solely to the idol she could never have. Whatever the case, I didn't really have that for her. Guess it was just too early in life for me. Well, okay. Maybe that excuse doesn't work since Amy is my age... I dunno. Maybe I was uninterested. Maybe I didn't really think about it.

Regardless, I DID have the whole day to myself and I did indeed miss my friends. Smiling, I nodded my head as if she could see it. "Y-yeah! Sure! I miss hanging out with everyone. ..." I took a moment to sigh and furrow my brows. "It's been way too long. Ever since the freedom fighters mostly retired their founding members, I've only really had a few old friends in the fighters to talk to... and I didn't even talk to any of them. I was too lost in doing my own thing, I guess."

Silence for a bit... Then, she spoke. "I've been thinking about that, actually... Look. Meet me at the usual place. Y'know. Chuck's? I'll talk more there. Kay?"

I blinked a bit, flatly. "Uh... Okay then. Wha-"

"Great! See you soon, Tails!"

*Click!*

... I took the phone from my ear and cocked a brow. "What the heck was that about?"

"Master, You may take your leave of me. I shall be at this for some time, as stated."

I blinked a bit... then rolled my eyes. Cindy never admitted it, but she was terribly lonely. She always said, "you may take your leave of me", but one time, when I went to so much as take a shower, she started caterwauling. It's nice she liked to try and be brave, but no. Not this time.

I went over to a coat wrack and picked my tablet sling from the hook, looking at the old Yellow tablet I always used back before all of this. ... No use in that anymore. It was obsolete and it didn't have "personality." Not like Cindy's did. I took it out of the sleeve and walked over to the new tablet, smiling and shaking my head. "No way, Cindy-loo~! You're coming with me! I remember way too many times when I got back and you were in virtual tears."

A resounding "err" came from the speakers as a blushing, embarrassed frowning face icon appeared over much of the globe. "M-Master, please! Am I to be made sound like a frightened damsel?! Why, I hardly recall anything of the sort!"

"Uh huh. You're still coming with me." I put the old tablet down and snatched up Cindy before sliding her tablet into the sleeve and slipping the tablet sling over my head and securing it to my shoulder while the tablet hung at my side.

"Master! That is NOT strictly necessary! I-I promise I am fine this time!"

I just bugged her out and shook my head as I traveled to my Workshop's door. "Just focus on getting a good lock on that signal. It's just for the day."

"HOLD YOUR BUSHY TAILS!" Her voice erupted as I yelped and jumped at least three feet in the air before landing right back on mine. "Have you no shame, Master?! You'll truly leave without even tidying yourself?! You've not changed you're gloves, you haven't combed your hair and I most certainly know you need to brush your teeth! Think of Amy! What would she say to this appearance- this... MESS!"

I looked at my gloves and saw all the black and brown and the pulls. She was right. If anyone saw me like that, period, that would be grounds to worry for sure... With a sheepish smile, I nodded. "Okay, you have one heck of a point... I-I'll.. tidy up before I go. Just real quick."

* * *

 ** _Addendum: I want to make a few things clear, just because I have seen it spoken of elsewhere and don't want it to get confused here._**

 ** _Overlander, human. I don't necessarily care which it was at one point or the other. If the character is human in essentially every way, I'm calling it human. It's too confusing to me. I gave up trying to hard-rewrite my brain to type overlander instead of human a long time ago. So!_**

 ** _Know that, indeed, I know the "humans" I refer to are, in actuality, overlanders... but at the moment, it makes me go cross-eyed trying to keep up with all of the rules Archie put in place as is._**

 ** _I hope this doesn't subtract from immersion at all. If it does, then I'll probably force myself to go back when the story is finished and replace every "human" with "overlander"._**

 ** _Good? Good. x.x;_**

 ** _Also, the story is no longer going to be in centered format. Someone happened to point out that it was hard to read like that. And honestly, going back and reading it myself, I realize that they are DEFINITELY right. Thank you, Silicon42!  
_**


	2. Chapter 2: Useful Excuses

...I walked the sidewalk of the busy streets of New Mobotropolis. Cars flooded by and filed in at the traffic lights, then sped on forward from there, carrying their drivers to a multitude of locals. The buildings around me were still standing...

I say that, because not even this place escaped damage from the Super Genesis Wave. Nothing about it was left unharmed. Not even the Nanites, which meant that automatic repair was impossible. We had to rebuild manually. Remember when I said that the "good doctor" was spying on us with microbots? I used that word, because they aren't the same as Nanites. The Nanite system was in terrible shape after it got hit by the wave. It's still recovering, but obviously, progress hasn't been quite what it could be. Nicole was okay, at least. I think that the Nanites shielded her, somehow.

Anyways, now the only thing that probably didn't stand nearly repaired was most likely the palace, which had actually been near totally destroyed. That happened before the wave hit, as it stood a prime target for Eggman's robots.

That massive structure would take some time to repair, but word around here is that it's half way complete. Sally and the other living members of royalty probably hired the best of the best, in that case.

That wouldn't be me, the boy genius. I wasn't a construction worker, even if I might be able to make bots that would do the hard labor for them. Why didn't I? ... Well, I've obviously been out of the game for a month. And even still, I have more important things to do. Not all of my duties lied in making sure an already stabilized situation got better.

... I looked over the hustle and bustle one more time as I started to get... too nostalgic. I gasped when I thought I saw a blue something coming down the road and almost run headlong into traffic with the biggest smile on my face... but luckily my eyes worked well. I immediately faltered upon seeing that it was just a blue car...

I stood there for a long while, head falling into a dip and shaking. "What the heck is wrong with me... I just keep thinking that anytime at all, Sonic's gonna come running through at the speed of sound everywhere I go..."

Cindy pipped up. "Master, what did I say of you being far too hard on yourself? Everyone knows how terribly you miss Master Sonic. I am a testament that you indeed hold onto hope that he is still out there, somewhere. Once my scan completes as I know it will, we will finally be more than able to search in earnest. Just hold on for a little longer, Miles."

My real name... Hah. I haven't been called that in forever. I still preferred Tails, but I don't hate my name. I looked down at the tablet and smiled a little. "Ha ha. You finally called me something other than Master."

"Well, it is a rather nice name that goes to dreadful waste~. Shall we harry on?"

I nodded and took a breath as I turned back forward. I closed my eyes and slapped my face a few times, then grinned and nodded. "Right! To Chuck's!" Now that I was actually motivated, I began to spin my tails and lift off from the ground before taking off up high like a chopper! When I was high enough, I leaned into my flight and sped through the air and between buildings as fast as I could!

... It took me a bit, because I'm nowhere as fast as Sonic, but I was fast enough to get there in five minutes still, even after a month off of not using those tails.

I dropped down from my altitude right in front of Chuck's Chili Dogs And landed a bit hard with a grunt, the impact stinging my legs a bit as I crouched low and rubbed my ankles. I guess there were detriments to no practice.

Groaning and shaking it off, I stood straight up again and walked in place until the stinging faded. "Gotta work on my landing. I'm way out of practice."

"My sensors indicate that you were descending by a speed of Twenty Miles Per Hour. If you were to simply trim that in half, your landings would improve, tremendously."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Yeah, yeah~. I know. I guess I was just in a rush." I looked myself over for a moment to make sure I was still tidy. Fur was smooth enough, looking at my gloves, there were good and clean, too. They were a new pair. That better be the case. My shoes were a new pair I never bothered putting on.

Unlike my others, they were more like actual tenny shoes, not like those old ones me and Sonic wore that looked more like bowler's. These had white, ball toes instead of pointed ends. The bodies were red with a white wire designs storing actual wiring going back and into the next piece.

Installed in their heels were my jet anklets that I never much used. somewhat bulky, they made the shoes' heels look almost like hooves. They were metal, so they shined quite a bit. On their back, there were fin compartments storing the actual boosters. The power they had was limited, but effective for someone as light as me. I hadn't used them on the way here, still getting used to the fact that I had on new shoes.

Satisfied that I still looked alright, I smiled and assured myself with a nod before looking back up and into the diner... They blinked wide when they saw that the place was packed. "Whoa... It's still this popular? I know this got big after it's repair sometime in the first month, but I never thought it would STAY this big."

Looking around at the outside tables, it seemed that only one of the four was actually taken, unlike how it seemed there was no room inside. We'd definitely be eating out here under the afternoon sun.

Upon looking at the taken table, I realized there was only one person there. She was looking into the table. Seemed like maybe she either already went inside and ordered or was waiting for her date to get back with the food.

I couldn't see who she was, being that her face was hidden by her white sun hat, which had a red ribbon around it's crown. She wore white gloves with gold rings around their wrists... not the actual rings, probably just bracelets meant to look like the real deal. Her dress was white with red trim, a closed collar and neck to it. No sleeves, but it had a skirt bottom. Speaking of what was under the table, I could definitely see a pair of all too familiar red boots with white trim lines...

I smiled to myself and walked over to the table, sitting down in the seat adjacent to the girl as I crossed my legs. "Ordered for two, but sitting alone. About right, Amy?"

The girl's head twitch before she looked up and indeed ended up being exactly who I thought. Amy Rose. She smiled at me, green emerald eyes almost radiating. For whatever reason, she was wearing pink lipstick and light blush. Her hair... It seemed like she let it grow out a bit. It wasn't by much, but it WAS noticeable. "I swear, if you were anyone else, I might have taken out the hammer."

With a nervous grin and sweat, I put my hands up in defense. "Yes, please not the hammer~..."

She giggled and waved me off with a hand. "Aww, stop. I wouldn't actually use that on anyone here. (maybe.)"

I cocked my brow and put my hands down, shaking my head a bit. "You seem a bit different. I mean, I'd be shocked if you weren't at least a little different, but still."

She smirked a bit with a lively feel to her that I wasn't expecting. "Aww, c'mon! It's just the hair. You've never seen me relax before?"

With the boundless energy you had even before all this and that voice you STILL have? Nope... Of course I'd never say that. But I can think it, can't I?

Shaking my head again, I shrugged and leaned in over the table with a chilled smile. "Well, if you say so, but it's not anything terrible."

She blinked a bit as she dropped the exaggerated smile. tilting her head she made a half grin at me. "Well, if we're gonna play differences, you're definitely different, Tails."

Clueless, my brows went up while the question was popped. "Uh? In what way? Good? Bad? I mean, yeah. Probably. I haven't talked to anyone much at all, so probably forgot how to act like myself."

Shrugging her shoulders, Amy shook her head. "It's nothing super different. You just seem a little calmer, more focused... maybe a little bolder?"

A snirk came from my crooked smile. "Me? Bold? When? The first thing I said to you? I really hope it wasn't rude or anything, but bold? I was just trying to play at cool."

She covered her mouth as she began to giggle at me.

With furrowed brows I grinned nervously. "Uh... What's so funny?"

Relaxing into a grin of her own, she pointed at me. "I think you know what. You are, mister serious. It wasn't that bad. Sonic's said worse one liners to me.

I just stared at her with a wide-eyed expression... then smirked. "You actually admit it? Hah! You always acted like you loved those cheese filled lines!"

With furrowed brows, her grin shrank a bit. "...I-I was a bit hopeless, wasn't I? Really, it was just because I was head over heals for him. Can ya blame me? Handsome, tall, cool, heroic and he didn't care what was in his way. Everything he did, he made look like the easiest thing in the world..." And there was the eventual lost frown.

It immediately hit me like a tone of bricks that talking about sonic... was not smart... My grin faltered... till we were both sitting there with frowns... I closed my eyes and sighed. "Sorry... I guess we're not as well off as we like to fake we are..."

She shook her head and made a weakened smile at me as I opened my eyes. "Tails, it's okay... I've decided that I'm not crying anymore. Sonic wouldn't want that." ... Maybe she knew him better than I thought she did. If I'm honest, Amy always seemed that hopeless fangirl that followed him around like he was the sun. I didn't really think she knew as much about him as she pretended. Though, she was every bit right... Sonic hated seeing friends cry. He understood that sometimes it had to happen, but when they only cried and cried and cried, it got to be much.

I could almost hear him saying, "If ya can't do anything about it, there's really no use in crying. Better to run like the wind, ' cause it's better than doing nothing."

I unconsciously spoke the words, much to Amy's surprise. She blinked over at me and eventually smiled. " Yup. That sounds just like him."

"Hah." I looked up at her and smiled before long. "I AM his best friend. If anyone knows Sonic the best, it's definitely me. No offense. It's just that he doesn't tell girls everything, even if he's known Sally longer than me." With a cheeky smirk on my face I added, "I even know things like why he likes going fast, why he styles his hair the way he does and even the reason he couldn't swim for the longest time."

She leaned in on me and cocked a brow. "There was a reason he couldn't swim?"

Nodding I put up a finger and smiled as I matter-o-factly stated, "He's like a cat. Water touching his fur made him immediately want it off. He got over it eventually, but not for the longest time."

"Huh..." She rest an elbow on the table and supported her head with a hand as she cocked a brow. "That's actually kinda surprising. He always seemed too cool to care about that sort of stuff."

"And while you may be his best friend, my boy, I am yet closer!" The voice that spoke was an older man's refined, yet rough cords.

My eyes bugged as my ears and tails stood up. I whirled around in my chair and saw Chuck, Sonic's uncle, standing right behind me with a hearty smile on his mustachioed face. He carried two plated chili dogs in his hands. "Ch-Chuck!"

He smiled down at us both and winked. "Here's the both of your chili dogs, kids," he said, walking over to the side of our table and placing the plated food down on the surface. He clasped his gloved hands together while raising his brows at me. "While you may yet know the why, you do not know the cause. It was actually due to bullying on his end by mean-spirited youngsters who loved to trick the dear boy into "watery situations". Once, they went too far and that was all it took. He didn't bathe for a week and yet properly for a month."

We both looked at each other and said the same thing. "Who knew?" Then, we turned to chuck as I said, "It's really great seeing you again, Uncle Chuck."

He made a warm grin at me and bowed a bit. "Likewise, Miles, my boy. You're always a welcomed face around here." As he relaxed, he added, "Do try to swing by more often! I do so miss having you regular and about."

My eyes trailed off to Cindy's tablet for a moment, then back to him as I smiled and nodded. "I'll definitely try, Chuck."

With one final bow, he was off and back to the inside of the diner...

Looking back to Amy, she started talking with a grin on her face. "He's always really happy to see any of the original team, but that was the strongest smile I've seen him pull ever since. Guess it tells me how special you are to him."

It made sense, I guess. We're fellow inventors- he's actually the one that inspired me to start getting serious with it, but that was a long time ago- and he knows I'm Sonic's best friend... I think that second one has more to do with it, even though we're friends, as well. Regardless, it WAS nice that I made him happy. I just wish I knew exactly why.

With a blink I gestured to Amy. "So, hey. What's up with the new style and make-up?"

The hedgehog blinked and blanked a bit... then shrugged and hummed into a smile. "Can't a girl want to look different every now and then? The same red skirt and everything gets old after a while."

I snipped in with a nervous, "The make-up is a bit much."

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I had a feeling." She then leaned her elbows to the table as she clasped her hands together before resting her chin on both. Her smile faded as she spoke again. "But listen. I do wanna talk about other stuff. And about the Freedom Fighter thing..."

As I took my chili dog in hand, I blinked at her. I still remember how she left the Fighters. She said some stuff about it not being the same without our Hero and then ended up in tears... She basically resigned the next day, even though she technically never gave resignation.

I put the dog back down. and rested my arms on the table to listen.

She took a breath, then gave a sigh, closing her eyes... "Tails... I've decided that I'm rejoining the team. I can't just sit around anymore. And thinking about you basically being all alone in there makes me feel totally selfish."

My eyes grew to seriously stare into her. Where did that come from? I looked off to the side for a moment... then back at her. "...Amy, that's not necessary. I know how you feel about us. You shouldn't-"

"Tails, you know I wasn't asking to join. If anyone like you were leading them, I'd be fine with that. I was fine with Bunnie leading for a while until I got my first look at how some new guys "freedom fought."" She glared a bit, but more off to the side than at me. "Did you know that some of the renegade Badniks came around Cream's house? I can bet not. I was there and I smashed a good number of them, but obviously the time off I took has made me less able. I got tired too quick. And wouldn't you know it. Freedom comes running with brand new guys. Well, I thought we were saved..." She closed her eyes and fumed for a moment while scowling inwardly. "... Well I was mistaken, because even though they destroyed the robots, the IDIOTS wrecked whole parts of the house they were called to protect!"

It was almost a slap to the face when she said that with such volume. My eyes grew to leer right along with her, me rising to my feet and slamming the table with my hands! "WHAT?! How could they do that?!"

She opened her eyes and relaxed herself. "That was two days ago. Two days ago, they gave me this reason: Ain't it more important to save the people than a hunk of wood? So, the house got a bit roughed up. Not a scratch on these two fine citizens..." I could hear her grinding her boot into the pavement.

I just stood there with a gape in my mouth and a scowl frozen to my face before I made a growl and raised a fist, throwing it down into the table with a surprisingly hard -THUNK!- It's crazy what anger can do. It felt like I nearly broke through the table. Gritting my teeth, I wondered to myself what the heck Bunnie was doing about this... or even if she knew.

That this was done to Cream might have been the worst part of it for me. She was the sweetest person ever! What did she do to deserve this?! "I wanna know, Amy. Who was it? Either Bunnie listens to me or I'm kickin' them out myself!"

She looked up at me and spoke. "The one in charge gave me her name while the others were busy running off to some other whatever. Stella Sparrows. Like her name suggests, she's a sparrow of brown feathers. Wears a stupid bandana around her neck that had an acronymn on it. Q.A.W.M. or something. Dunno what that means."

I stood straight up and took Cindy out of my pack, much to Amy's confusion as she cocked a brow. "Tails? What are you doing?"

I simply spoke. "Cindy, perform another process once you're done with the scan. Que a call to Bunnie Rabbot. Tell her exactly what I know you heard."

"An Excellent choice, Master Tails. If I'm perfectly honest, I've already done so. The mockery I fed back to base had to be heard in the moment. You'll excuse me if I temporarily placed the scan in the background and handled this as she and you spoke of it?"

With a pleased smirk on my face and raised brows, I tilted my head. "Well, I'll be. You're brilliant as always, Cindy~."

"Cindy...?"

I blinked from the tablet and looked up to Amy, whom had come to stand beside me, much to my yelping surprise! "Holy cow, Amy! When did you get there?!"

She shook her head as she continued to look at the tablet, smiling in amusement. "Nevermind that for now. Tails, was that an A. I. like Nicole?"

Blinking from the whiplash of surprise, I took a breath, then nodded before smiling up at her. "Well, yes and no. See, Cindy's technologically, logically and potentially more capable than Nicole. And that's saying something. She's also been made directly capable of self-determination through both word and action from the start. It took a while for her to get used to that, though."

And winking face appeared of the scanning screen. "You flatter me, Master, but I have quite a bit of growth ahead of me before I can ever be compared to someone as complete as unit N. I. C. O. L. E. 0 0 1... However, you can believe that I shall try for that day!"

Amy chuckled a little while a hand found it's way over her mouth. "Well, she'd definitely beat Nicole out in a battle of etiquette."

"Oh my, all of this un-do flattery!" The blushing emote appeared.

I couldn't help but laugh a little before smiling full. "Thanks again, Cindy~. You just saved us a lot of headache."

"Do not speak so soon, Master. Bunnie may still call upon you when you are again available. A personal meeting was her reasoning."

I blinked and cocked a brow before going silent. Talk about mood whiplash. Clearing my throat and nodded, I agreed with, "Alright. Relay that it will be the first thing I do after Amy and I have had some time. And tell her to expect Amy, because I think you gather she won't take no for an answer."

"Agreed. I have already complied, Master."

Amy blinked her eyes wide and whistled. "She works ridiculously fast! Is she really talking to us AND Bunnie at the same time?"

I smirked a bit and nodded as I placed Cindy back into the pouch and turned to Amy. "That's the least of what she's doing. She's also helping several other teams on the side. Cindy isn't just an Artificial intelligence. She's also a ten times over Super Computer that has the ability to multiplex over entire networks at a time and divide into copies of itself to take on multiple tasks. When she's evolved enough, she'll be able to do that physically, as well. Nicole can only be in one place physically at a time in the real world. However, Cindy's divisions would be able to be in as many as several hundred. Right now, a power limiter is in place though, because there isn't a singular device that would be able to take on her fully released power like she wants. It would be smarter to do what Nicole is doing and simply inhabit all of them at once to divide up power and Cindy is every bit capable of that, but she prefers an actual home body to store most.. of..."

While I was staring at her, she STILL seemed to somehow get distracted while LOOKING at me, nodding as her eyes seemed half dazed...

I waved my hand quickly in front of her face before giving a snap with my finger as she yelped and blinked a few times. Shaking her head as if to clear it, she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "W-wow, I'm sorry Tails, but that is way more than I can take in. She sounds interesting, though! Really powerful, too!"

With the roll of my eyes, I gave a sigh. "I guess that's the sort of response that I should have expected. Chuck's the only one I know would stick with me till the end."

She giggled nervously through a crooked smile. Something seemed to dawn on her as she stared at me with wide eyes. "Hang on... Won't Nicole get Jealous of her or something? Have the two of them met?"

I nodded and smiled. "Actually, Amy, yes. They have. However, Nicole actually likes that she has a friend that's just like her. They get along really well, despite everything. It could be because of Cindy's modesty."

Amy shrugged and smiled. "Well, it's great that the two don't step on each others toes."

I picked up the somewhat cooled chili dog as I spoke. "And you don't have to worry about anyone hijacking Cindy's system. She's got over two hundred different ways to prevent that, some of which are constantly in action. I nicknamed these complex anti's the Digital Snare. There is literally nothing that can make it through being the reason. An exact match of herself wouldn't even do the trick. The two Cindys would just stalemate each other."

The hedgehog blinked as I got done explaining that. She ACTUALLY listened to it all! "Huh... That was actually my other worry, but wow. You went way out of your way. I guess you don't want what happened with the Iron Queen repeating?"

"Precisely." I took a bite of the dog, finally, only then realizing how hungry I was. I didn't really take all that long enjoying the taste of my food while Amy spoke, practically scarfing it down.

"So, you did all of this for Cindy. Can you do it for Nicole as well or is she too different?"

Dusting my hand of crumbs and swallowing my last bite, I cleared my throat and turned her way again. "Actually, that's what I'll eventually do, if she ever lets me. If she isn't comfortable with it, I can't do anything, though. Changing an A.I. isn't as simple when you go about strengthening it forcefully. Evolution through normal means is more recommended, because evolution through force means that you have to account for the already constant evolution. It won't just be hard. It will be intense at this stage in her evolution." With furrowed brows, I went on to say, "If I'm not careful, I could permanently damage her or worse. Moreover, if I'm honest, I don't think I myself would want her to agree to let me change her programs."

Amy seemed to understand as she nodded with a frown. "Now, it makes sense why you went and made a totally new one. That's a scary thought."

"Exactly," I agreed, nodding my head as I shut my eyes. "I'd never do that to a friend, artificially made or not."

With a hum, Amy grinned warmly and folded her arms. "You're still every bit as kind as you always have been, Tails."

Confused, I looked at her with a cocked brow, rubbing the back of my head. "I am?"

"Yup."

With a smile, I put my hands on my hips and grinned right back. "Well, you were a great friend before, but now you're even better. Probably the best around. How does that sound?"

She rolled her eyes, even though I could see her actually blushing beneath the fake blush. "Oh, just stop. Now, you're being too nice." She then stuffed about half of her chili dog into her mouth and virtually bisected it, chewing it in a hurry. I think what she said was, "Let's finish up here and go talk to Bunnie, already. Too much flattering going on, right now." ...But it wasn't quite so clear, in reality.

You know what's the funniest thing about this situation? Amy actually doesn't much care for chili dogs... and here she was shoving one down like it was the best thing since sliced bread.

* * *

 ** _(I apologize for how messed up this chapter's format was when I first submitted it. I don't rightly know what the cause of the merged text was, but that should have never happened. please, do not hesitate to tell me if glitches occur. Believe it or not, I do very much care and will get on it as soon as I am able.)_**


	3. Chapter 3: Leadership and Heart

...Amy and I did eventually get called in by Bunnie. We wasted no time getting there, though.

Some may want to finally understand why Bunnie- the deroboticized rabbit who left on a journey of self-discovery- was now back in action with the rest of us. The truth is that she never liked considering herself helpless. After the loss of her "rabbot" parts, it took her a while to find her own usefulness again... but in these months recovering, she's turned into a fighter through and through. Some could say that she's one of our most capable, despite being the leader now.

Heck, she still takes on regular missions, despite time and time again being reminded she must lead more than do. Bunnie never did like waiting for someone to do the job for her... It makes me wonder a lot if she and Antoine can really work out together. Antoine knows when to quit. She doesn't. I'd say Antoine is the brains, but the more likely fact is that he's just scared.

... I guess that still doesn't matter much, since he's still in a coma.

Walking through the busy halls of the reformed Freedom HQ- once again in service- Amy observed the changes done since the wave hit. Change here had to happen, too. The member count had obviously grown, because thrice over she nearly bumped into a few of them. The very foundations inside had been reconstructed to be made of polymer walls and ceiling. Tile flooring was put in as well. Everything had been taken to the future, essentially. Even the entertainment systems were made more modern. We weren't even in the Mission Control room, either.

Sure, damage was a reason these upgrades needed to be done, but there was also the fact that ... Well, I don't like to think about it, as you can tell, but we more or less officially disbanded. And I'm not talking about the loss of key members. I'm talking about before the wave hit.

Bunnie's departure played a part, then. Nicole had been named an exile due to being under the Iron Queen's control for a time. People just couldn't trust her... and then there was the sacrifice Antoine made... and other complications still...

... Sonic's disappearance changed something in all of us, though... I think of it as his final gift, because soon after he was gone, everyone overlooked what happened with the Iron Queen and accepted Nicole, again. It could have been that she was physically weakened from the loss of so many nanites and honestly, that's what I believe changed the counsel's ruling in the end.

Bunny came back for reasons she still doesn't talk about one-hundred percent. Antoine has shown signs that he might wake up ever since her return, though he still hasn't. We know she takes small visits to his hospital room bed every now and again.

Despite the others, the Freedom Fighters have actually been reformed... but now, I'm in doubt of the reformation, if we have more like the ones Amy described in our ranks.

"Tails, holy cow..." Amy finally piped up as we were walking to the sliding doors of Mission Control.

I stopped and turned to her with a smile, watching as she basically did a turn around in awe of how sleek everything was. "Big change from the hole in the ground it used to be, huh?" She nodded as she slowly looked back down at me. "We did a massive overhaul. Nicole was great help, even with her weakened state."

"Huh." With hands o her hips and eyes wandering to the MC door, she came again. "No kidding..."

Walking on and toward the doors, I continued to speak, even as I looked at the new password-locked keypad and punched in a sequence of numbers. "These changes wouldn't have been done if the wave didn't nearly turn this place into a buried tomb."

"About that..."

As I was about to punch in the last number, I stopped... then turned to face her.

She seemed troubled with that furrow-browed frown on her face. "I'm not a sciency wizz or anything, but I do know what the waves did before." Cocking a brow, she looked me in the eye. "Tails, how are we still here? This all should have been erased, but... it failed... Why?"

The Keypad sounded out with a sour beep as it zeroed out and reset. I looked down at the floor, grimacing. "...Yeah... I-.. I really don't know... Genesis Waves never failed before and this one was definitely super-charged by chaos emerald power. Yet, here we are... The wave somehow failed to do the one thing it was truly meant to. All it really did was cause a butt-load of damage..." I shrugged and looked back up to her, losing the expression. "I mean, yeah. I could take a wild guess and say that 'it's because of something Sonic did' and that's probably the obvious answer, but even as Super Sonic, that seems like it would be a bit much."

She nodded in unsettled agreement, but shook her head of the thought shortly after, sighing into a grin. "Oh well. If you don't know how this is possible, I'll just be happy that we're still here, in the very least."

... After a pause and one unwelcome thought, I nodded, but that thought made me pause... It hadn't been the first time it came into my head and it wouldn't be the last. Could that be why we never found Sonic? Because he sacrificed himself and brought Eggman with him...?

I shook my head at the idea, however, because it could be wrong. Cindy had been able to finally pick up on his trail, after all. He had to be somewhere, if that were the case... Though, in what shape or status, I couldn't say... The scan was designed to pick up ANY sort of readings related to Sonic and/or the Genesis Wave.

"Tails?"

I gasped out of my thoughts and snapped my attention back to Amy, blinking.

She grinned nervously. " Uhm... I said, so let's get our butts in there?"

Blinking once more, I nodded and made a grin of the same nervousness. "R-right!" Turning back to the keypad, I punched in the code. [8256#2251#*] The Keypad too a moment, then flashed blue and beeped twice before spelling out [ACCEPTED].

The doors quickly slid open to the busy, noise-filled Mission Control as Amy walked inside, immediately taking to awe at the new interior. It was significantly bigger by twice it's original size with multiple operators manning stations both on ground level and a whole new level above Screen upon screen made the forward and side walls a literal surround of action and movement, making the overhead lights a bit redundant while their own light could be used to keep the room bright.

These monitored screens showed every team in current operation and their activities. For a few examples, a duo of all flight capable member teams were currently in battle with airborne badniks over the mountains. Another team was extinguishing a freak forest fire as part of an assistant fire fighting force. Yet another was fighting land-based badniks with great success. Still more teams all over the continent could be observed doing whatever they could to end the remaining conflicts left behind. Whether they be naturally or by Eggman, they were all tasks that needed our assistance, apparently. Chatter all over was all that could be heard while this was going on.

Quite a long way to come for some young punks that took over for the parent generation, right? I guess it's not too surprising, though. Our group's always been above that "average" margin.

Amy looked lost before long, covering her ears at the very least by pulling her hat down over them.

I gently poked her on the shoulder as she turned my way and blinked. "Follow me! Bunnie's at the top!"

She nodded and followed as I led us both to a platform on the left side of the room. I gently stomped the panel twice before it started to climb to the second floor on a piston. Once we got to the top, I walked off while she followed close behind, then a railing sprung up behind her as the panel descended back down to ground level.

My eyes stared off to the left as I spotted Bunnie off a short ways, standing atop the tallest stand over everyone else as her eyes scanned over the screens.

She'd kept that same outfit from before. However, there was a new hole through her stetson at the back and her jacket was a bit ripped up at the bottom. Something happened to them before she returned.

Even though Rotor opted she should get a new jacket at the very least, she said that it held new "sentimental value" and told him it's best they leave it at that. Amy knows this story, too. She was there and so was I, even if she was a fair bit more distracted then.

Bunnie didn't bark orders or request anything of the operators at all. She seemed to know they knew what to do, even with that stern gaze she seemed to carry.

... We both looked at each other, then walked together up to her stand. We both stepped forward, but I spoke. "Bunnie, We're here." I didn't need to yell over everyone. Her ears were sharp.

I, on the other hand, couldn't hear what she said very well. "Ah know." The rabbit turned around to us, arms folded as she stared at us both, then nudged her head to the side. "Let's get ourselves outside. Noise 's stingin' mah ears."

We both agreed with a nod. Both of us watched her step down from the stand and walk passed the both of us before we began to tag along.

She stopped when she came to an operator's side watching Team Freedom's monitor, then leaned into him before whispering into his twitching dog ear. He looked at her with his grey furred face and sharp eyes before nodding and saying something right back. She nodded, then walked passed him as he returned to his duties.

We both followed her back out of the room as the double sliding doors shut behind with a -kchnk!- ... For a moment, all three of us just stood there. Bunnie turned herself around and stared us both in the face with a half grin. "Ah'll be derned iffin this don't stir me. The both uh y'all t'gether just leaves me misty. Makes me think uh the ol' days."

I smiled a bit. Bunnie doesn't smile much these days. Understandably, there might not be much to smile about for her.

She looked off to my side and at Cindy's tablet as her smile faded. "Thanks again, Chips. When ah see them no good varmints in Team Steel, they'll be gettin' the reckonin' o the century."

"Twas nothing but pleasure for me, Mistress Bunnie. I do so enjoy the squirms of a criminal. And such sweet nothings there shall be, mhm hm!"

"If they show their faces, ya mean." Amy was the one who spoke with a glare. She took a breath as her hands went to her hips. "I like to fancy myself a proper lady, but..." She lifted her hands as one curled into a fist and SMACKED into the other's palm with the loudest noise like someone just snapped hard plastic! "If I see them first, their butts are MINE!"

My eyes bugged while I took a step back from her.

Bunny blinked a bit, then shrugged. "Ah don't par-ti-cu-lar-ly care which uh us smacks their hides, so long as they get smacked right outta the Freedom Fighters. Y'all better beat me to 'em, though."

Amy nodded, then took a moment to breath as she pinched her forehead and cleared her throat. With a sweet smile, she asked, "So! Wanted to talk?"

She nodded and folded her arms back while leaned on one leg. "S'pose so." With a proud grin, she explained why we were BOTH called upon. "Ah'm down right pleased t' see ya, sugar. Ah was hopin' you'd consider comin' back. Team Fighters has been outta the game ever since y'all left. Ah cain't right send Tails off t' fight or nuthin', bein' he ain't no one man army. Heck, He'd be dandy, ah'm sure, bein' the smartest soul we got... but muscle does count. He don' 'ave enough for that. That was all you and that hammer uh yer'. So, ah was hopin' you bein' here meant y'all were comin' back home, Yea? We'd be lucky t' have ya."

As Bunnie went on, Amy grew less and less pleased with how she made her case, Smile turning slowly into a glare. She made it sound like she only cared about having one extra team. Even I could see that with all my humility. "Is that really your reason for calling me here?"

Bunnie cocked her brow in actual confusion. "... Pardon?" ... How did she not hear what she sounded like just then?

Amy closed her eyes and shook her head with a huff. "I know you heard me... And I'd like to think you hear ME of all people louder than the rest." Opening back up her eyes, she shot daggers into Bunnie's with her own. "Is that really how you wanna make this sound? Like we're just another TEAM?"

Bunnie seemed to lose her calmness, that actually surprising her as her eyes grew wider. She put a hand up. "Wait, hold on a mite! Now, ah didn' mean it like that- honest! Ah'm just tryin' t' say ah miss ya!"

Amy softened her glare a level, but she was still not backing down, even as she nodded. "Yeah. Uh huh. You have a weird way of telling it, then, because that's exactly how you just sounded. Like you were recruiting just another team for the Freedom Fighters." Tilting her head to the side with a hand to her hip as she leaned, Amy went on. "Ya wanna sound like you care? That's nice. You missed me? How did you miss me? As a friend or as a FIGHTER? Because right here, just then... you sounded like the job came before care or feelings."

I was just in awe... and maybe a bit of discomfort. I knew Amy could lay it on thick, but this was actually aggression. I could almost feel the heat rise off of her body.

Bunnieheld both hands up and took a step toward her with a frown. "Please now, Sugar! Ah didn't mean it like that! Ah don't know why Ah said it that way- A-ah jus' did! Of course ah miss ya like a friend would! Ah jus..." Bunnie furrowed her brows and suddenly stopped... then stepped away, pulling her stetson down over her eyes. "Sssshuck, Ah know ah messed that right up. Y'all er' right t' be mad... What's wrong with me?"

"Don't know, Bunnie," Amy stated plainly, shaking her head. "This isn't much like I thought seeing you again would be. But whatever." She looked down to me and grinned a little. "I came back for Tails, not anyone else or for any other reason. So yeah." She looked back up to her old friend as the grin faded like turning a page. "I guess you get your FIGHTER, regardless."

... Bunnie didn't respond. Whatever Amy struck, it apparently hurt. A lot.

Amy sighed and just held her head, before placing a hand on my shoulder. "Tails, let's go. I don't WANT to have to say the rest of what I'm thinking."

I just stared up at her with a frown... before eventually nodding.

She walked off ahead of me while I took one last look at our friend. The rabbit's eyes were very clearly visible to me at my height. Tears were running her cheeks. I'll leave it there.

I couldn't keep my eyes on her face, frowning off to the side. My feet started moving and I was suddenly running to catch up to the pink hedgehog, but...

"Tails, hang fer' uh sec..."

I stop as I stood there, not turning to look at my "commanding officer"

The feeling of Bunny's eyes on the back of my head wasn't lost on me. "... Ah'll.. get mahself fixed b'fore too much longer. And... Ah'll try to take away more of'en from the Freedom Fighters... Jus'... Y'all be patient with me..."

... My mouth remained shut, even if I gave a small nod. Then, I ran off to catch up to Amy, who'd basically gotten to the stairs. When I finally did, I slowed down to a walk and fell behind her.

Even I had to admit something. Amy went too far. She's always had an aggressive side, but not many times did she use it with a friend in earnest. Sure, she got mad. She even smacked people with the hammer... However, despite that, Amy was regardless one of the nicest people I knew. What she did just now was new.

Knowing this, it made me nervous. "Amy I-I-"

"Tails, you should have been leader."

My ears perked while my eyes grew wide, mouth open from being cut off... I blinked, trying to work the question out. "...W-what?"

As we descended the stairs, she spoke plainly. "After Sally, the leadership goes to Sonic. After Sonic, you were next, right? Either way, I know that you would've been a better leader. Like she just admitted, you're the smartest one around. AND you're Sonic's best friend."

"... I was offered the position by Sally, but said no."

Amy seemed to flinch and turn to me as we stopped on the stair well. She looked shocked. "W-what? But Tails, you-"

"I don't have any interest in leading," I cut in. I was perfectly serious. Taking out Cindy, I took a breath and presented Cindy's screen, which was still scanning for Sonic even as the dish on the top fidgeted. "Cindy and this tablet were what I was working on for all that time you didn't see me. I was planning to tell you what she was doing when I actually had something to show for it, but better to just tell you what she's doing, now."

Amy looked over the screen and blinked in puzzle, before looking back up to me with brows furrowed.

I looked into her eyes and softly spoke. "I made this Tablet to search for Sonic. I might have stopped looking before, but what Nicole said to me a month ago felt funny. She said, "I can still sense Sonic, but can't identify where he is or what his status could be." And that made me realize he could still be out there and we hadn't looked hard enough..." Even as she looked at me with a worried expression, I went on to say it. "And now that the scanner is perfected, it's pretty much confirmed. Sonic IS out there, somewhere."

That made the pink hedgehog's eyes grow wide with a gasp. "...S-Sonic is...?!"

I nodded with certainty. "Even as everyone thought Nicole was just malfunctioning, I knew better. Nicole wouldn't have said that if she weren't one-hundred percent on it and especially not in that way. And now, it's doubtless, because even Cindy detected him. All I'm waiting for now is for her scan to give me direction."

Amy looked like she was struggling. She took her hat off and held her head, looking like she might cry, but never did. "S-Sonic... All this time... And I thought h-he was..."

"What Master says is every bit as it seems. I know that might be hard to accept as everyone's gotten used to the fact that he is well gone. However, my sensors do not confuse and cannot lie. The young master is correct. Sonic is indeed... somewhere. The exact location is incredibly difficult to pinpoint, however. Nothing beyond my abilities, mind you, but it is proving a truly onerous task. ... I am so close that I might be able to... Hold a moment..."

The both of us blinked at the tablet. Even I was confused. The screen took a change and my heart skipped a beat. An arrow had just appeared pointing to the northwest.

"I've locked on to something with his signature. It directly co-relates to Genesis waves and Sonic, though it seems ... almost like it's on the very edge of my range, but... no? What is this?"

Amy looked up at me with a smile. "Does that mean...!?"

I lifted the tablet closer to my face as I stared at it intensely... "I-is that...?"

"I... It most certainly seems to be Master Sonic, but the readings are... all so strange... This.. requires travel. I may be able to obtain a clearer reading if we can merely get closer."

It felt like I nearly had the tablet in my face. "How much closer?"

"By my estimate, Five-thousand six-hundred and thirty-seven miles closer, at the very least."

My heart was racing. My hands shook a little. I could barely believe even a shred of hope remained. I took a seat on the nearest Stair and sighed out heavy, passing my hand over my head. "... Doesn't matter how far. I'll go."

"I'm going with you, Tails!"

I snapped my head up and looked Amy in the eyes. She was leaned in on me... a bit closer than I would have wanted. My cheeks turned red at the invasion of personal space. "U-uh..."

It took her a moment, but she blinked while her own cheeks reddened, then stood back up and cleared her throat. "B-but really, I'm not taking no."

With a deep breath and a sigh as I held my chest, I looked up at her and nodded with a grin. "Alright, but what about kicking Team Steel to the sun?"

"About that." She pointed at me with a hand on her hip and a smirk. "Can we maybe wait until tomorrow so that I CAN?"

I soimply made an "O" with my thumb and index as an "OK" while smiling in a cheeky manner. "I'm guilty of wanting to see that, so yes. I planned to wait the whole day away while Cindy was scanning, anyways."

With a thankful grin, she made a curtsy.

I knew this would be glorious.

It had turned night before Team Steel came back. The team consisting of the aforementioned sparrow, a rocky, male armadillo with spiky hair and even spikier accessories all over and one of the Echidnas. All of them looked tough... but Amy was tougher, which was why they were running from her with ... actually very little success.

Amy had gotten faster apparently, because she ran circles around them and had gotten in plenty of hits with her hammer.

Just then, she rushed ahead of the sparrow and whirled around with a shrill growl to catch her in the gut with her oversized mallet! It smacked her like a rubber ball as she was sent flying back into her two team mates! The collision looked like a bowling ball crashing into pins when the Echidna and armadillo went sailing to the sides before tumbling flat to the ground!

Amy slammed her hammer to the ground, indenting the grass and dirt! The three stooges yelped and huddled together like miserable cowards. The pink hedgehog leaned to one side and glared them down with a literal snort of hot air through her nose. "WHAT'S THE MATTER?! YOU'RE ALL FREEDOM FIGHTERS! I'M ONE "LITTLE PRISSY HEDGEHOG", RIGHT?!" She pulled the hammer from the dirt, revealing ruined grass and an inch deep indention. Hoisting it over her should like nothing, she dared them as she waved to her self. If I didn't know any better, her eyes were glowing red she was so mad! But they weren't. "C'MON, COOL GUYS! SHOW ME WHAT YOU DID WHEN YOU WERE "FREEDOM FIGHTING" TODAY!"

One of the three actually worked up the nerve to try. The Echidna rose to his feet and stood ready to fight, dukes up and everything as he sunk into a low boxing position... I cocked a brow. That was Knuckles's fighting pose. "Yeah, fine! I see how it is!" He smacked his fists together twice as he grunt through bore teeth and sharp eyes.

The sparrow shook her head and tugged on his leg. "Clive, you stupid-ass! She's a freak- Are you crazy?!"

He spit and tried to act tough, but I was just grinning at it all. He was afraid. I could see him shaking. "M-maybe, but look totally gutless?! Ta hell wit' that!"

... Okay fine. I'll humor him. That was an alright thing to say... but he really was an idiot. Worse than Knuckles if he was taking on a rage fueled Amy Rose. After all, she'd knocked him flat a good few times. ... Still, he seemed to at least have SOME courage.

Starting at his forehead, there was a split arrow (or was it a shovel...?) that went over the top of his head and dreadlocks. He wore knotted bandanas on both of his forearms: one red, the other white. The white "boxing gloves" standard to echidnas adorned his fists. He had this weird, blue collar around his neck that read "Dirt Killer" in bold, red, ragged letters. I think that meant something related to digging. Maybe he was a digger.

On his feet, he wore boxing shoes of Blue, red and white. Blue was the primary color while red made a swath through the middle of the shoe and the entirety of it's tongue. White lined the red.

He did a mock combo of punches as he danced in place. Looked like he knew how to fight, but maybe he was just trying to fake it. "C'mon, le's go, lady! You n' me!"

Amy didn't look very impressed, but she did smirk. "That's cute. At least you have heart, unlike your low-life friends." She got down with a hand to the ground, then sprinted at him with great agility as she zig-zagged!

"Clive" trained his eyes on her to watch for an opening. When he realized that was a bit harder than it sounded, he started to sweat. He simply ran at her and kept his pose low.

Seeing that he would actually put up a fight, Amy smirked, then quickly slung the hammer down and into the ground, flinging herself into the air above the fighter as he stopped with a skid. As she swung down, she sent herself down and spinning toward him!

He cursed, then dodge-rolled out of the way as she smashed the hammer's down, ground giving under the impact as it buckled and splintered! She nearly hit him with the terrain itself, even though he dodged!

Even I gaped at the mouth, being smiling and whistling. "That guy is boned."

The other two looked like they might loose their eyes if they grew any wider. That isn't even saying anything about how pale they looked.

The digger/fighter got back up on his feet as Amy emerged from the mini-crater she just made, smiling broadly down at him. "Still want to do this?"

Without much thought, he put up his fists again... after taking like five steps back. He was definitely shaking like a leaf. Okay, I get that he was trying to be courageous, but this was just brave. Bravery could DEFINITELY be stupid. And this was stupid.

She smirked as if she saw that coming, shaking her head. "You don't wanna do this."

With a very shaky tone and an unnerved expression, he lowered his fists and goofily asked, "I-I don't...?"

I cracked up.

Amy hopped down from the splintered ground overlooking him and landed behind him before swinging her hammer and NEARLY hitting him square in the head with the flat nose of the mallet as he shook from the breeze it made! I could see him go as stiff as a board! "No. You don't. You want to go back to those two kind bunnies' house and help them repair the damage you did. You ALSO want to find new friends."

He swallowed and nodded his head as he uttered, "Y-yeah..." I felt a little disappointed, but... not for very long.

The dark gaze of the pink hedgehog fell upon the sharp-tongued sparrow and her Friend. Her wing hands went over her mouth with eyes wide. Amy looked like she might explode. "Run FAR away."

And so, they scrambled from the ground and took off in no particular direction other than away from Amy.

Amy is scary when she's angry~...

"M-Mistress Amy is-"

"I know..."


	4. Chapter 4: A Start to A Start

I didn't sleep much last night, even though it was the first really good day I've had in a while.

After watching Amy drag those idiots through the mud like pups playing wolves, I went straight home to the workshop and TRIED to sleep... It only lasted for about an hour or so. I just had way too much energy.

I guess this is what hope can do to you.

I used that energy to prepare. I put water Canteens and a refilling tank inside one of the compartments of the plane. It too could be refilled, if there was merely a body of water, due to the intake valve acting as a filtration system, but I'd need to land it on water for that. Food was second on the list. Something non-spoiling would have to do, since anything else was just going to either make a mess or be entirely too spoiled to eat. I'll leave that ambiguous for now. There are a few things.

Other preparations were made, just in case of foreseeable disaster... like my plane getting damaged, yet again. I swear that half the time, that happening so much was just the big guys telling me that I am not a good pilot, but I knew better.

I also had to make power adjustments to the craft to keep it from encountering speed difficulty or maneuvering problems. There was also the new mode to account for... Hopefully, we wouldn't use it, but if we did run into an air battle, that would be our best friend... But there was a flaw. If I wanted to get the most out of it, I'd have to jettison something. If I wanted to get the most out of it, that is. Thankfully, there were few things left that were so dangerous.

There was also a compartment made for Cindy to house in. If we needed to do emergency repairs or something else crazy, that would be of great use, but only so long as she wasn't overtaxed. We wouldn't need a map so long as we had Cindy, either, but just in case of the worst or something close to it, there were other ways to find our way home or to the next best place. There were no other ways to find Sonic, however...

Taking that into consideration, she needed to be treated with extra care. Guarded, even. There was something else I needed to do... And so, I went about making one extra modification to the tablet by simply adding something to Cindy's programs. She knew what to do with it, push come to shove.

I had long ago made room for a second person's seat- mostly to keep my mind busy- so that my friends didn't always have to ride on the wings. It came equipped with a full set of controls, just in case I got knocked out. Sure, I couldn't bring a full team on board, but it was better than them getting knocked off by anything or just outright falling.

I constantly wonder why I never did that earlier, but then I remembered how many problems kept coming up, right as I think to do it- or I just don't think about it at all.

Another thing I was thankful for doing at random was remaking my landing gear into Land and water models. No, that doesn't mean float plane designs. I made it so that shutters that housed the gear could act as the skis. I hated how those planes looked being the reason. Functional AND beautiful. Personality combined with purpose, I'd say.

Honestly, if the name Tornado wasn't so cool, I'd seriously think of renaming this plane the Swiss Army Knife.

Of course, all of this last minute upgrading made me do many test flights throughout the night to make sure this could all work. Thankfully, it did. Maybe I was getting better at what I did. I was having less unfortunate mishaps with my plane.

... Anyways, that was my entire night. When Morning finally came, I had taken my last test flight and was feeling pretty proud of myself. Slinging Cindy back over my shoulder with the sling, she yelped a little. "Dear gods, do not repeat that! I thought I'd fall out!"

Erking a bit at how that looked in my head, I realized her panic and slapped myself in the face. "Oh jeeze, I am so sorry, Cindy. That was stupid."

With a sigh, she settled back down. "It is quite alright, Master. Though, do take more care. I do so hope that you show other tablets more concern."

With a groan and a nervous grin, I walked into the workshop... only to catch sight of myself in the mirror. I was covered in grease and oil, much to my annoyance. The new gloves were ruined. Thankfully, my shoes were not. They stayed well away from all that and I made sure of it. no one likes to mess up their new shoes on their first day.

All the same, I gave an exhausted sigh as I sunk low, letting my arms dangle like noodles. "Come oooon."

"Yes. There is also the fact that-"

"I need to bathe. I know," I said flatly. With a sigh, I took the sling off and placed Cindy on the workbench, walking toward the bathroom... but stopping at the mirror as I looked myself over... With a hum, I felt my chin with a hand. "This look.. kinda seems incomplete, now that I look at myself."

"Perhaps you should use the wardrobe's other *ahem* ... fine threads. You will be gone for quite the while, I wager. Best to look your favored, yes? I personally believe Amy would agree~."

I rolled my eyes... but paused... Folding my arms and leaning to a side, I decided it did make sense...

Nodding to myself, I left for a bath...

When I came back out of my workshop, I had changed up my look again.I kept the shoes, of course, but I was actually wearing clothes. Loosely fitting tan pants held tight to my figure by a thick, silver gear buckle adorned my bottom half. My gloves had been changed out for a new pair, though I wore a ring over one's cuff. A very specific ring, but that's my secret.

Wearing a shirt didn't work for me because of my chest's fur, so I settled on an unworn aviator jacket I bought a long time ago. Around my neck were my favorite pair of goggles. And of course, the sling on my side was carrying Cindy's tablet.

Honestly, Much of what I had on was Cindy's idea. I thought that it was too much, but she said that I looked "dashing". I didn't see it, but then I wasn't a girl.

As I stood there and waited for Amy, I took out Cindy's tablet, looking at the globe and the arrow pointing North-West... With a little thought, I spoke. "Cindy? Connect me to Freedom HQ."

"As you wish, Master Tails."

The display switched from the globe as hexagons filled the screen. A phone-like buzzing sounded out and not a moment later, the call went through, hexagons flipping to reveal a familiar dog's face. Russ. "Freedom HQ! Operator Russ Van Dogette! Is there anything to report, Team Fighter Chief Tails?"

I cocked a brow. "Uhh... Just Tails." Relaxing my expression, I continued. "I guess Bunnie isn't available, so just relay a message for me. Tell her that I'm going after strange readings due North-West and I'm taking Amy Rose with me. Say that it's related to Sonic's disappearance."

The dog paused for a moment as he looked off to the side at the ground... then returned his gaze to the screen. "Commander Bunnie warned me about this, but she said to let you go if it ever came up. Sonic was your best friend and a great guy to all of us, so I can understand. Still. What you find up there might hurt."

"I'm fully aware. It's why I have to do this. Either it's the greatest news we could ever hope for..." I closed my eyes and let myself admit the other possibility. "...Or it's closure. And we could all use that, even if we don't really want it."

The dog took a moment... then nodded in agreement. "I suppose so, when the casket you bury is empty..." He gave me a salute. "Goodluck." The transmission fuzzed before the screen transitioned back to the map and our little arrow pointing to sonic.

"It appears to me that Mistress Bunnie foresaw much."

I nodded with a thoughtful stare, but an empty one. I was thinking of what we might find... I hoped that it wouldn't be... morbid. It was hard to say what we'd see at the end of this rainbow, since I knew precious little about this Super Genesis Wave.

There's no need to repeat myself, though.

Refocusing, I looked at the time on the screen. It was six fifty A.M. ... Where was she? Amy was meant to already be hear. With a cocked brow, I waited, holding Cindy beneath my arm.

After fifteen straight minutes, I started to get sore feet from just standing there and waiting for her, so I took a seat on the tail fin of the Tornado, which was already lined up on the runway and ready to go. I stared out at the city as I caught sight of a moving silhouette off in the distance.

Squinting to see, I leaned in and held a hand over my eyes to cut the glare from light.

My eyes just barely succeed in making out Amy's running figure toting a tube pack jostling around on her side. She'd kept the clothes she wore from yesterday- or at least a matching set. That hat... I couldn't help but feel it might meet with an unfortunate end. It flapped the wind too much. Heck, it might fly right off on take-off.

As her exhausted legs carried her to me, she nearly fell right over in her stumble to stop, gasping for air while she crouched low and held her knees to support her upper body. She was sweating from every pour and breathing shallow. Had she run all the way from home to here? "I-I- *huff* ... I'm here- *hah* ... Don' leave..."

... A chuckle escaped my lips as I smirked. "Wha-hat? You thought I was gonna leave you or something?" With my hands on my hips and a wide smile, I closed my eyes. "Really. Even if it turned twelve at night, I wouldn't have left you or anything. Who do you take me for? Knuckles?"

Opening my eyes, I blinked wide. Amy looked like she might pass out. "... Water, please...?

Erking as I scrambled, I ran over to the "hood" of the plane and pressed a release switch on the side. The entire hood popped up a little as cool mist vented from under it. It slid back as it exposed the four Canteens and a ten gallon, box-shaped water tank. The Canteens were pre-filled from this morning, so I merely took out one of them and ran it back to Amy while I unscrewed the cup lid.

When I went to pour it, she simply snatched the entire Canteen and began to chug the water within in a full tilt back.

I just stood there with the cup in hand and wide eyes, watching as she emptied an ice cold quart of water like nothing in mere seconds. "...Uhhh..."

As she sigh out cold breath and slunk a bit with a relaxed smile, she at least seemed relieved.

I stared at her. "How are your insides not freezer burned?"

Her only answer was to look at me and stare, uttering a lazy, "Whu?"

... Enlightening.

Shaking my head, I just waved her off with a hand. "For-get it..."

In my perfect honesty, Amy's always been slightly impossible. She's like to one of those perfect girls that couldn't ever exist. (Not in personality. If that's perfect, someone needed to rethink that definition.)

She could do crazy things one minute, then be totally normal in another. The hammer trick, the monster strength, the impossible feats, even the whim based things like what she did last night with former Team Steel.

She wasn't supposed to be that fast or agile for someone who hadn't been in the Freedom Fighters or even worked out (to my current knowledge) for so long... Yet, she seemed to just gain it all back in that moment. Now, here she is. She probably ran all the way from her house to here. That would make my lungs pop.

She may actually be her own force, yet seemed almost blissfully unaware that she exceeded herself so many times... Not to sound like I'm objectifying her, but she might actually have been the best partner to bring along, even as I've felt mixed about her at times. She had unknown utility.

I think that is all due to her "absorbing" the Ring of Acorns, a wish granting item. She may have base-line absorbed the ability to grant her wishes, no matter how obscure... Regardless, there seemed to be limits that even she couldn't exceed. Exactly what they are really aren't clear.

... I held my head a bit as I let a chuckle out. Did I really overthink things on the basis of Amy having frozen breath?

"Tails?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at Amy's who seemed to be composed. She smirked and shook her head. "You drift off a lot. You know that? Are you thinking of someone or something?"

My eyes bugged while my head sunk. "Uh?!" Yes, Amy. I'm thinking about how impossible you are... Do you really think I'm about to say that? Well, you won't believe her words after that.

She smirked even wider in amusement. "Are you... thinking about Cream, maybe~?"

I could feel my face reflexively cringe a bit. "WHAT?"

She blinked in confusion and let her smirk vanish. "Huh?" She crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Whaddya mean, what? Did you have a thing for her or something?"

I just squinted at her, raising a brow. "When did that ever seem like a thing and who lied to you? There's nothing wrong with her, don't get me wrong. I just don't get where that came from. We're just kinda-" I stopped as it occurred to me. My reaction back at Chuck's. I made an "oh" when I realized that. Shaking my head, I told her, "It's really nothing like that. I reacted that way at Chuck's, because I hate hearing when nice people like her and her mother are victims to anything like that. It outraged me moreover for how it was someone in our own forces."

An "oh" came from Amy as she blinked and let her arms drop back to her sides. "I think I understand, but didn't you two used to talk a lot?"

My head nodded to that. "Yeah, but nothing major. We're just great friends. And besides that, Cream isn't into any of that stuff herself, yet. She really only ever talked about it when you were brought up along with Sonic. Sometimes, Sally."

"O-oh, that's true..." She wondered while looking off from me, then shook her head. "Well, nevermind. I guess I got the wrong ideas."

With that said, I asked for the canteen from her and she handed it over with a nod. Screwing it back together with it's cup lid, I walked back over to the water storage and slid it back inside with the rest. After than, I pressed the button on the hood and watched it slide back into place, sinking back into the grooves and sealing everything shut.

"What... did you think of it all?"

When that question came, I paused... before turning around with a grin and tried to act dumb. "Whaddya mean by "it all?" "

She huffed and tilted her head with an unamused expression. "Uh, Tails. You know very well. I'm talking about what Cream tells you about love and me and Sonic and Sally."

"Well, that was a lot of things, to be fair-"

"Tails!"

With a hiss and flinch, I conceded and sighed. With a neutral face, I spoke. "Fine. If you really wanna know... I didn't feel right getting told about other people's love life when I don't even know if I'm ready for one of my own. But that's Cream. She said it more for how she admires you three- you, especially. What could I say?" Looking her in the eye, even as she showed surprise, I stared at her, stern. "I'm Eleven, Amy. I had only one real serious crush on someone when I was even younger, but she was way out of my league. And then, she turned out to be pretty nasty to boot. So, I decided that I didn't know what I wanted- that I was too young to "get" love or really understand what to do with it or even what to look for."

While it confused the pink hedgehog for a while, I only had time to climb my way into the pilot seat before she spoke again. "I guess I get it, but that's kinda silly." She hopped up beside me on the wing and leaned in, smiling. "I mean, I knew what I wanted, after all~."

... For some reason, that bugged me. As I got comfortable in the seat, I took a breath and hid my discomfort with a smirk. "Can we stop talking about this? I am NOT the love doctor. We get it."

With a shrug, she swung herself into the passenger seats as she conceded. "Fiiine~."

I took Cindy out of the sling and looked at the large rectangular slot of the plane's new instrument panel specifically fitted to store her tablet. I fit Cindy into the slot and felt the slot click around her. "Syncing up, Master... ... ... There we are! I am ready whenever you two are!"

To demonstrate this, Cindy materialized a hand and floated it over to the propeller, taking hold as she threw it for a spin! The Plane engine turned over and roared to life, spinning the propeller at great maintained speeds!

I pulled and fit the safety belt over myself and snapped it into the buckle. "Alright," I exclaimed, turning to look back at Amy with a grin. "We all set?"

Amy relaxed in her seat while she put her own belt on, nodding with her own grin. "So, then I guess it really is just gonna be us two?"

"Yup," I answered, turning back to the panel as I began to pull the break free and increase the power steadily, the propeller spinning faster and louder. I started yelling so she could hear. "Knuckles will take too long to get a hold of and Sally probably won't be much easier! And besides that, even if something does go wrong, which is PROBABLY will, I'm as prepared as you can be for anything you can't expect!"

It was the truth. Yes, the plane stuff, but more importantly the Knuckles and Sally bit. Though, I didn't really want to bring Sally along for another reason. Even before I knew that Amy was doing better, Sally was the biggest worry. I'm surprised that she can keep her mind clear enough to do her duties.

Knuckles? Well, his story was still the same. Stubborn and duty-bound. I wouldn't be able to pry him away from the emeralds, even if he did want to come. That was the fact.

I still closed my eyes and took a sigh... I really wanted them to come along, but was more than smart enough to know it was impossible...

"Hellooo~! Tails! We're rolling!"

Gasping back to reality, I refocused on what was happening! Looking ahead and through the wind-shield, I saw that we were indeed rolling down the runway at increasing speed, but I let us go crooked! I took the control-stick in hand to steady our rolling out, then straightened us out steadily as speed increased!

With a sharp gaze, I pulled my goggles over my eyes with a hand as wind whipped at us and rusted my coat, fur and hair! Putting that hand back on the stick, I smirked wide and shouted, "Here we go, ready or not!"

The runway began to run out on us as speed topped out quickly at two-hundred and sixty for take-off! I pulled back on the stick as the fins of the wings flapped up and we quickly lifted from the road and into the air! Speed kept climbing as wind roared by loud around us and we eventually ended up over the grassy plains far down below!

When we finally reached the fair altitude, I evened us out and flipped a green switch. The landing gear pulled up and into their housings as the shutters closed around them, leaving the belly of the plane flat and sleeked.

After that was done, I locked the controls by pushing down on the stick until it gave a click. It was so we stayed steady for at least a minute or two. Looking back to Amy, I found her with her hand holding her flapping hat to her head. With a smirk, I laughed a little. "I knew that hat was a bad idea~!"

She glared at me and groaned. "Hey, quiet you! I love this hat and I wasn't going without it!"

"Right." I turned back to the front and looked down at Cindy. "Cindy! You mind closing the-"

A rippling sound echoed around as the windshield became enveloped in blue light, then began to stretch back and around our sets before becoming an enclosed cockpit's window as the air was immediately cut from around us and sealed outside. The blue light faded from the window afterward as Cindy spoke. "I do believe this shall suffice~."

Blinking from the fast action and slight mind-reading, I smiled. "Yup! That works!"

Amy sighed as well, finally letting go of her hat and slinking in her chair. "Thank you, Cindy~."

"Most welcome, Mistress Amy."

With the mistress card played again, the hedgehog looked passed me at Cindy's tablet. "Say, Cindy? Why do you keep calling me Mistress? If you're looking for the proper noun to use, it's really not Mistress."

I looked down at Cindy's screen to see her confused emoticon come up. "...I beg pardon- it's not?"

"Nope. That'd be Lady. Mistress is something more... involved."

The plane actually shook a bit from that one as Cindy's blushing emote came up, making me have to unlock the stick and steady again! "Oh my dearest deities- Master, why did you not tell me this?!

With a groan from the hiccup, I took a sigh, then furrowed my brows from nervousness. "I-I honestly didn't know? It's never been a curiosity, I just assumed there was a similarity between it and Master- which I still say isn't necessary."

The emote started flashing. "... I-I believe.. from this point onward, I shall pull more sensitive information from other more official sources..." And then the emoticon faded.

With a heavy sigh, I just decided to focus on flying the plane. The near still image of the sky and horizon could hypnotize, but flying in the sky like this to me was the greatest. It could both calm and excite me. Right now, I was calm...

Looking down at Cindy's screen, I saw that the arrow had moved to east, but that was because of our direction. I looked back up and pulled the control-stick to the right, tilting the plane on it's side. I pulled up on the stick and made the plane turn in that direct while I pressed the left peddle at my foot to control the tail fin and keep us from falling in altitude during the turn.

I did this until... "Direction is correct, Master. We are en-route." Correcting the plane into it's upright position, I settled back into the leveled position and smiled... before I heard a growl of some kind and FELT that growl, much to my erking discomfort.

I looked down at my stomach and figured it out pretty quick. I hadn't eaten anything...

"Every precaution, huh," Amy asked. I could just feel that cheeky smirk...

Rolling my eyes, I nodded. "Yup. Because there are compartments for quick snacks and all of them are full." Looking down at Cindy with a nervous grin, I started, "Cindy, I know I'm asking quiiite a bit, but could you pilot while I take time to eat?"

Sighing a bit, a new emote came up of a smiley rolling it's eyes. "You are quite alright, dear. Though, perhaps you should have eaten before leaving."

I rolled my own eyes. The stick vibrated to signify she had control. I let go of it and leaned back in my seat.

I'm sure you don't want to hear what I ate nor know how long it took, so let's take five. Though, as an added funny, Amy also forgot breakfast, because she slept in. That's why she ran all the way here...


	5. Chapter 5: Mere Children No More

Five human men stood around me, threatening me to a cage with metal devices that had long tubs and very defined forms. Guns is the only thing that I knew they could be. I saw mom in the same cage they were taking me to... not conscious, but I could tell she was alive... She wasn't alone, though... She was surrounded by a variant of other human-like pokemon you'd think to see in a forest... I can name a few by memory, but not all. Bellossom... Nuzleaf... Roselia... Crogunk, of whom was badly injured... There was even a Leavanny comforting a Meloetta... When I saw how bad off the Meloetta was, both a bit physically and greatly Emotionally, I instantly thought about how I just left Kimmy back there to be alone... Suddenly, being with Mom was bittersweet to a new high...

...What did the men look like? ... I could not see one of their faces, but a lot of them, if not all of them, wore mainly black heavy armor that was tightly molded to their bodies with white trims. There was a sort of plainness to them. Their masks were the most striking thing... The shape was plain and instead of perfectly molding their faces, it just went over them in a smooth fashion that rendered the masks themselves faceless, not just the one they were hiding. Very vague differences were drawn on them for each man. A curving blue line across the forehead, a red cross where a cheek would be, a grey arrow over the entire face, a white pair of horns drawn on both sides of the forehead, a sort of green slant on the side of the mask, as if it were a scar. You could very vaguely see through the masks and they were extremely reflective of light...

[Watch this one.] My eyes went wide with a realization that the man behind me was the one from before. His voice was the same. I nearly tripped over, but for his own reasons, that same man caught me by the arm and helped me stay steady. It's when I got a true view of which he was. The one who's mask had a red cross in the non-existent cheek. [She got away from me before. Teleported. Don't know why she didn't do it just now, though.] I couldn't understand him, but his fellow men seemed to understand him, nodding.

He then let me go, abruptly, making my balance a weird thing to get back. I felt his cold gun's tube poke my back a bit, making me gasp and erect my back straight. [Move.] I Didn't really understand him, but I knew what he wanted. Me in that cage with mom... I didn't deny him that right. I just ran into the cage and hugged my unconscious mother's waist, shivering pitifully.

I heard a man laugh, turning my head as I saw it was the one with the green slant mask, who had just closed the cage shut around us all and put some sort of... coil(?)... on it. [I know why she didn't. Look who she's hugging up to!] He gestured to my mom with his gun, but I instinctively got up in front of where his gun was pointing, making a poor excuse for a glare. I still had mud holding one side of my bangs up, so they could clearly see my eye and it's anger.

I don't know what he wanted, but if that gun went off, it wasn't hitting my mom with whatever it shot. He shrugged and laughed. [Aww, relax, Kid! I ain't gonna put a hole in her!] Suddenly, the red cross man smacked green slant man's head with his gun, lightly, making his "face" meet the bars of the cage. Grabbing the cage and using it to re-balance himself, the green slant man turned his head to the red cross, growling frustrations.

The red cross spoke. [If you kill one more subject, I will not hesitate to end your joke of a life.] The green slant man stood up and walked back to the rest of the men, muttering something angrily. The red cross man turned to them all and spoke again. [Remember. The mission is to bring the subjects back as uninjured as possible, not see how much blood they spill from shooting them. The "good doctor" needs living specimens for what he's doing. Avoid injuring them as much as possible, just as we handled the Diancie.] I heard that and my eyes grew wide in both anger and fear... But I don't know why they said it... Diancie... Were they the ones who caught Mallory...? That's what I thought.

The red cross man shrugged back to a strange vehicular machine a few yards away as it was backed up towards us, a gate opening up in the back. The gate was connected to a rectangular steel bed with surrounding walls about 3 feet high, which were full of cages full of human-like pokemon. Because I can't think of a way to describe the vehicle's front half, I'll just tell you what the vehicle was, now that I know. It was a larger type of truck. The men all surrounded us and lifted our cage up, working it over to the open holding area of this strange vehicle. Their movements made me lose balance along with my mom's unconscious body, both of us falling forward and into the bottom bars, not painfully, but my mom was atop me.

I had to squeeze my way out from under her on my arms and knees After I did, I just sat there, shacking and sniffling. My tears were showing again, dripping my cheeks. All of this for my mother. I didn't want her to leave me. I didn't think I could live without her...

I felt a large hand take my arm. Looking over to my forearm, I saw the had was green, wielding three finger, including a thumb. Looking to it's own, I saw it was mom's hand. She was staring at me through sleepy eyes and had a reassuring smile on her face.

As the truck started to move, I would be pulled into her grasping arms as she gasped at the rumbling of both the cages and the truck's "voice", sitting straight up and looking around with a surprised look on her face. I just stared up at my mom's face while she took all that was happening in. I saw confusion, anger, sadness and nervousness one by one as she thought about something.

"If it helps you understand, since I can see that they took you unconscious...", one such gruff and deep voice started. I and mom both looked to a cage on the left of our own in a brief surprise, seeing a variety of pokemon, but one such pokemon, an alakazam, was looking at us. Not only was he paler than most Alakazams I had seen, he also was probably the shortest. He looked old... He spoke with steely silver eyes on us. He raised his hand as it glowed a faint blue as if he was trying to be careful, closing his eyes and seeming to focus on my mother. His hand stopped glowing and he opened his eyes, then he looked back up to my mom, who just seems like she was waiting. The Alakazam spoke. "Those men who ambushed you while you were on that walk of your's with that Kimmy of your's? They are the ones who put you, your Ralina there and the rest of us into these cages."

Mom looked very surprised by the Alakazam's words, but to be fair, so did I. Me and mom both wanted to know what she asked next. "H-how did you know me and my babies' names?"

The Alakazam smirked and poked a claw repeatedly on his cranium. "It's an old geezer's trick. It's not a move, though. It's just what we old pokemon call the psychic pathways. A fancy way of saying Mind Reading, but it's easier to do with a fellow Psychic type." He smirks and points a finger at the man in the window of the truck. "It also works on human fools, even though it gives them a little, ehehe... Migraine. Which is my source for what I'm about to tell you, by the by."

My mom seemed taken aback, lips pursed, but nodded in understanding. I was paying attention to what he said, though, too. I was gonna learn how to do this, one day. Though, to be fair, I still haven't... It's harder than it seems.

He then seems to drop the smile, going back into his steely gazing. "These guys are paid off lapdogs. They are taking us to a... "hidden lab"... of some sort. They weren't even told exactly what's going to happen when we get there, but even if they did know, only one has enough moral correctness to change his mind, but even that ain't much."

My mom sighs, seeming to understand, nodding. "So, what your saying is that humans want us for their personal gains and that we might not be free for some time..." She shakes her head in disappointment. "I already don't like where this is going." She then looks down at me and lets me go. "Ralina, I want you to teleport awa-"

"No!" The old Alakazam warns with a serious scowl, a hand up. "If your daughter even tries, she will be shocked painfully, along with you and the pokemon with you in that cage!"

My eyes glazed over with fright as I got up from my mother's lap and ran over to the bars on the Alakazam's side of the cage, anger in my eyes lighting them up like fire. "What?!" I asked loudly.

I heard my mom gasp in fright, shivering with wide eyes, looking at the bars that bound us. "What won't human's think to try, just to catch us!? Those balls are enough, but THIS?! Cruel! Unusual! Unneeded!" My mother beat on the bottom of the cage out of frustration and anger, making it rattle and chime.

A sudden loud thud from inside the truck draws our attentions through fright. It's swiftly accompanied by a human's yelling. [Quiet back there or I'm gonna start frying ya when I feel like it!]

The Alakazam pinches between his brows with his eyes closed as our attention settles upon him again. "Humans are weak creatures, indeed, resorting to unnatural methods all to assert their dominance, purely contrived of using the planet's pokemon and resources for themselves."

My hands squeezed the bars in front of me when I heard the Alakazam say all that, my eyes' gaze falling on his feet while I thought about that boy from way back when I wandered away from home, frowning while I closed my eyes and sighed. I very quietly mumbled, "Not all humans are like these, though..." However it had become so quiet by the time I had said that every pokemon heard it. When I heard mutters, I opened my eyes and looked around at my fellow pokemon, frightened that they all had heard me.

Some seemed to doubt what I had said, though I wasn't trying to convince them, while others were confused. The one Meloetta, however, having calmed down from before when she was crying, seemed to make a faint, weak smile.

I turned back to the Alakazam, taken aback by his closed eyes and his hand raised to me, glowing light blue again.

The glowing suddenly stops as his hand drops back to his side. The yellow humanoid falls silent as his eyes open and they bore directly into my eyes. It was a long pause, but his mouth finally opens to speak. "Child... What you had with that human boy..." He seemed to pause for a sigh as he turned his back on me. "That was a mere human child. Innocent, he may yet be for the time, but he is going to grow up to lose that innocence, one day. I, too, thought like you did, in my long passed youth, but I was not long to learn the cold truth of such matters."

I just felt so angry with the Alakazam. My lips came open to show my bit-down teeth, while I shut my eyes tight. I just wanted him to... "SHUT UP!" I let it ring out loudly and heavily. The alakazam was taken back it seemed by the way he just seemed to stare at me now with an open mouth and wide eyes.

It wasn't just him... I turned my back to him, leaning back against the cage bars. I slowly slide down them until I hit bottom first on the barred floor... It didn't stop me from curiously looking around at reactions to my outburst... Those who doubted me before were surprised and unsure. The ones confused before were giving me sympathetic looks.

My mother seemed surprised that I got so angry, too. She just stared at me with lightly open lips, seeming to look sorry for something. Probably about what she said before about humans.

The meloetta seemed to look even happier though, a near full blown smile on her face. I didn't really think about it before. I was just angry, but maybe that Meloetta had a similar relationship with a human and she was smiling because I defended my claim, even if it was just through an angry outburst...

The Alakazam... Well, in the end... I don't know if his points hold any merit. I met another human besides yourself that made me really doubt he was right, but... Anyway, we aren't there yet. Though, you won't have to wait long...

I looked at my mother again, who was waving me over with a concerned look on her face. I got up, walking my way back to her lap, sitting myself atop it and just huffing. She started rubbing her fingers through my hair, gently, while she started getting muck and dirt out of it.

By that time, most pokemon start to talk in their cages, other than the Alakazam, who just decided to meditate.

She was silent for a moment, just focusing on cleaning out my messy hair. I saw my bangs about my left eye drop back down over it, making my vision iffy again. Then I heard mom speak. "I'm so sorry, Ralina. I had no idea..."

Just hearing her apology made my anger fade a bit. It could no longer be seen, but my eyes had relaxed. "I never told you, because... I thought I'd be in trouble if you knew I had gone all the way to a human place."

I heard my mother giggle softly while she started to brush dirt on my body off. "Well... I just saw how much you cared for this human boy. My daughters know how to make excellent friends, so I don't think I'd be mad at that. Though, I WOULD have been mad at the fact that you wandered off on your own that night, miss 'Oh, I was just out early, gathering berries I thought would be yummy! You are the best mom ever!' And you didn't have any luck, if I remember~."

I pouted and folded my arms, briefly biting into my lip. "Hey, I was bad at making excuses back then. I'm much better now."

I heard my mom make a snirk, then sigh while an arm came down around my front and a hand started to pet through my somewhat hair. "Well, regardless of what these other excuses you just said you've been making were, it looks like now we're both in a lot of trouble..."

I lowered my head and frowned again, remembering we were in cages and on a truck to some secret lab. "Yeah..."

I couldn't see it, but by my mother's next tone, I knew she was frowning. "I wish I could say that everything is going to be okay and that we'll figure some way out of this... but I honestly... don't see how we could get out of this, yet..."

I nodded, understanding completely as the truck we were on started to exit our forest. I couldn't see much, because there were no longer any trees, because I was too small to see over the truck bed's wall, but I did notice one thing. The sun was lighting the sky it's bright blue. I looked at the bars around us, curious as to why we weren't roasting alive, since it was the summer and the bars were all metal. They should have been scorching hot. However, maybe they were made out of some strange metal that didn't conduct heat well. It's possible. And some normal metals have this property.

For some reason, I started thinking about how I had left Kimmy in the forest. I sighed, hugging my mother's arm to myself, leaning my head into it. "Kimmy must be so afraid... I shouldn't have left her back there, but..." I just bowed my head. "I just... I couldn't think of losing you... I don't want to lose you in any way..."

Mom looked down at me and smiled reassuringly with a softness in her eyes. "Kimmy will be okay. She's the safest of all three of us, after all." At that logic, I nodded. Though, if I think about it now, what would emotions do to her?

After that long conversation, I started to realize just how tired I was. The constant draining sun was beating me even more to death. I couldn't stay awake for much longer.

About an hour passed. I had fallen asleep on my mother's lap after on half that hour with her petting her hand through my hair. I can't really say when we finally arrived at the lab, but I can say that when I would get there, it would be a great, loud wake-up call for what was to come...

It's late. Let's stop here for now... Still... I admit to being surprised you held on without falling asleep. Are you used to long stories? ... Regardless, go home for now and come back tomorrow. Once again, I will stay here. Go...


	6. Chapter 6: Dust-Caked Circuits

After about five hours of straight flying, we ended up quite a ways out and quite a bit hungry.

And well, there was that and the battery was at thirteen percent from the drainage it took. We were at least over land, but the land was uh... well, still desert.

Groaning from both the nerves and my own hunger as we continued to fly, I was searching for a good place to land... And then, I saw, down below us, a flatter piece of land where a... village... was...

My thoughts slowed a bit when I squinted... That village... looked very wrong... I had to land and check it out.

I rounded back for the village and took the plane in for the smoothest landing we were gonna find for a while...

The engine slowly halted as Cindy transformed the cockpit window back into it's natural form.

I took her tablet out as I flipped the switch right below the slot. The top set of wings split open down their lengths and opened up into solar panels to collect energy from the sun's rays.

Amy, dawning her hat once again, had already gotten out to look out over the sight we both had seen when we landed, standing there with a frown...

This place was deserted with buildings either destroyed or in disastrous conditions. Tents even looked to be totally ragged or just tarps and sticks blowing in the wind. What should have been a road or walkway of some sort was ruined and mostly just slabs...

Hopping out of my seat, I landed on the dry ground and came to walk over to my friend, just looking at this... mess. "... What.. happened here? I know the desert is cruel, but... this doesn't look like it was natural."

"It looks like it was attacked, you mean." The hedgehog was sharp on my meaning. I nodded. She simply closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, praying for anyone who was... unfortunate...

My eyes turned to the plane as I spoke. "We should eat something before we look at anything here. Otherwise, we'll probably lose our appetite."

"Bit late for that, but I know we need our strength. So, I won't argue..."

I nodded and took her hand as I led her back to the plane, though she never did take her eyes off of the "village."

Eating in the heat was not quite something you ignored. I had to take my jacket off because of that, though it didn't stop the sweat from coming.

Even Amy was sweating, though she didn't seem to realize it much. She had her mind on other things, of course.

I started to get a little concerned about her, but didn't say a thing before a barely audible beep sounded from Cindy. I took a look down at the tablet and saw that she was typing something out. [MASTER, MAY WE SPEAK IN THE PLANE WHEN THE TWO OF YOU ARE DONE EATING?]

I cocked a brow as the message immediately cleared after I had gotten ONE look at it. Thankfully, I was certain that's what she typed. I nodded down at her.

After we were done eating, I stood up with Amy as she immediately walked toward the village. "Hey Amy!"

She stopped and turned around, cocking a brow. "Y-yeah? What's up?"

I grinned slightly. "I wanna get something out of the plane. You go on ahead, but don't go too far."

She nodded without question, even if she didn't lose the raised brow. "If you say so. Just don't take too long."

"I won't," I responded, then turned and walked back to the plane as she went on into the village...

As I climbed my way into the pilot's seat, I made sure to be careful of Cindy, holding her tablet close to my chest.

When I sat down in the seat, I held the rectangular object in my lap, looking into the screen with a stern gaze. "What's up? You're not usually that secretive."

"It could not be helped, Master. This was meant only for your ears. I received a message from Bunnie quite a while ago, but the contents of said message orders that you alone hear it."

It felt... weird... hearing that sort of thing. I knew what it likely meant: Bunnie knew something big that she never told us... It made me a little irritated as I took a calming breath... then sighed... Staring at the screen, I told Cindy, "Play the message."

The screen faded to black before cutting to a scene with Bunnie in a dark room by herself with a very serious look on her face. "Tails, there's somethin' y'all gotta know, but Ah cain't say it in a message. It's got somethin' t' do with Robotnik and Sonic, but Ah don't right know what to make uh it. It's new, so Ah couldn't get it t' y'all before ya left like ah wanted." With a frown, she huffed before going on. "Still, t's probly best. Ah don't want Amy hearin' this, even if she does really hate me right now..." She turned her gaze into a stern one again. "Cindy? Ah'm countin' on ya fer' this. If Amy's around, keep it t' y'allself. Out." And then the massage cut as the screen turned black, then showed the globe of Mobius again.

Sitting there for a while, I looked off toward the village and tried to see if Amy was around. Didn't see her. ... She didn't want Amy to hear? Why? With a thoughtful look on my face, I tried to guess what might have come up, but ultimately couldn't come up with anything worth mentioning. Returning my eyes to the screen, I paused for a moment... "...Cindy, contact Bunnie."

"At once."

I waited... and waited... And while I waited, I started to cock my brow. What was taking so long? "Cindy?"

"Mh... ... ... It appears that she is not able to pick up. The signal goes through, however difficult it is to secure it, but the madame seems to be busy with something... Shall I try once more?"

Firming my brows for a moment, I just stared... Then, when my eyes eased up again, I shook my head. "No. Forget it. Just save the message. We need to catch up to Amy. Besides, I don't think I'm in the right mood to talk to her right now.

"Master, please understand. Madame Bunnie did clarify this as new information and attempted to get a hold of us before we departed. She was merely too late. I detected no ill will from her words. Despite yesterday, her only intent seems to be to inform."

I looked away and closed my eyes, even as she went on.

"I understand you do not agree with how she spoke. Though, you must attempt to forgive her. The words she chose were poor indeed, however harbored naught the intent of which she was accused."

My eyes slowly opened to that... She was right... I KNEW she was right. Bunnie has never acted like what Amy thought of her that day. Why was I so mad at her when I should KNOW this? Everyone makes mistakes and Bunnie is no exception.

I stood up from the seat and climbed back out, careful with Cindy, of course. When I touched down on the sandy ground again, I put her in the sling again and went off to find Amy, walking into the ruins of the village.

It was eerily quiet when passing by the wrecked domiciles. It wasn't all that windy, either, so there wasn't even that to distract from the heat and the silence.

Looking into each building and even the terribly maintained, dry-rotted tents, there wasn't much to be had but a bunch of broken pottery. Floors that couldn't be considered floors anymore with how broken the tiling was and little at all left in the tents that wasn't just trash. Some buildings weren't worth looking into, being the ceilings or walls had come down.

The final building I could investigate was an eye-catcher. Three stories to it, even though the third was open in the front due to a collapsed wall. It looked like a high-ranking official's home...

I squinted up at the third floor's open interior to see the top of something white and disk shaped. The rim of Amy's sun hat, maybe? I formed a cup around my mouth and called out. "Amy! Is that you up there?!" My voice echoed out loud enough for anyone in the area to here, but it looked like we were alone...

The disk moved in and out of my sight... before it came back, then showed that it truly was her hat when Amy herself came to stand at the edge of the third floor's... well, floor. "Uh... Yeah, but you might wanna see this!"

I nodded, then started spinning my tails before lifting off from the ground and ascending of the building. I came to land next to Amy while she backed away from the edge.

My tails halted as I walked the grimy floor for a few feet while speaking. "Okay, so what is... there... to..." My words failed me as I simply looked forward. My mouth gawked open and my eyes grew wide...

The room was in shambles. A table that seemed to have been one like what a business man would use had been snapped right down the middle and partially crushed on one side by a fallen chandelier that used to hang from the ceiling. Filing cabinets in one corner of the room were laying on their sides, burnt and filled with what once were many important documents recording the village or what business went on here, I'm sure. They were ash now.

None of that was what had me gawking, though... My eyes were staring at the thing that seemed to be laying on what remained of a chair...

What I saw was this strange badnik that was critically damaged. It was some upgraded version of a Moto-bot, I think... The one claw it did have was a larger, longer one meant to sweep wide. A robotic eye was busted and the other was showing extreme signs of corruption, displaying nothing but static and the eye's pupil showing up in random places... or maybe even two places at a time. Only the stump of one antenna was left of the two it should have, the socket where the other one should be hollowed and exposing wires. The face was a cracked up mess and the lady bug wings it should have had were missing, the joints that used to hold them worn out. It had come to rest on it's side with it's wheel deflated.

"Eggman's bots got this place, but it had to have been a long time ago..." Amy's words held water, because none of this was possible in just two months- not even in the desert's heat, sandstorms and other hazards. This was time- took time, I mean.

With a shudder, the bot made a computerized -wrrr- and started to mumble something...

I took steps closer while Amy followed behind, just as curious.

"... e-.. me-... i...y-y-y-y-... sh-sh-l... m-m-ma-l... All-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l Me-e-e-ee-e-e-...t-t-t-t... All-l-l.. hai-i-i-il...mi- Me-ta-a-all-l-l-lll-l-l-l-ll-i/_-" There was an ear piercing screech before the bot ultimately broke down and short circuited... But it released nothing but the normal smoke a machine let off when it shorted out.

I backed away from it, squinting with a suspiciousness to my expression. "...All hail metal...?"

Amy went to comment, but Cindy cut her off. "Not quite, Master." We both stared at Cindy at my side... I pulled her out and raised a brow. She went on. "This specific badnik's code was an utter blasphemous mess... However, I extracted what it was trying to say from it's crashing memory circuits. 'You shall all hail to the might of Metal.' Metal was used like a name of an individual or group... That was the complete statement. Do not ask me what the sorry display besides was meant to be. I am not so certain I wish to know."

I looked over to Amy with a puzzled and concerned grimace. "That sounds different. And like trouble..."

She seemed to be equally concerned. "Metal? That's what Sonic called the Metal Sonic he first fought, maybe? That thing can't still be around, can it?"

... I felt my throat grow dry... drier than the desert could make it. "...I-it's definitely possible... But let's hope that it's not the Metal this thing went on about..." And yet, I had this unshakable sense of foreboding...

"...I believe that we should leave, Master. We will not gather an answer here. Likewise, in the event that something yet lives in these buildings, one would be wise not to seek them."

I nodded while swallowing. "R-right. The Tornado should at least have enough energy now to get us someplace cooler, at least."

Walking through the village again, it felt better to have a partner. Being alone here no longer felt right.

That there were no bodies troubled me, as well. This sort of damage was definitely lethal force in numbers and it couldn't have been long enough of a time for there to be nothing left to show. Not even if I factored in the very start of all this: Robotnik's initial rise to power. That meant whoever lived here had been abducted or ran...

My thoughts went back to the possibility of... Roboticization...

Shaking my head of the thought, I groaned loud enough for Amy to hear by accident. She looked at me with worry written into her face by furrowed brows. "Tails? Are you okay?"

I couldn't lie... I shook my head as it hung. "No, Amy. No, I'm not. Eggman is still messing up our lives in the end and he's not even here anymore." My head lifted and fell back as I slowed down and looked at the sky. "I always wondered why. Why did Robotnik become so evil? Why did he do all of these insane things? I know for a fact that he was smarter than what he displayed when he made the Animal Battery. That's why I decided that he was just getting off on it."

The pink hedgehog grew to glare ahead as I listed things off. "He made me so mad... And then he had the NERVE to make copies of Sonic." She took her hands as one made a fist and hammered her other's open palm. "I just wanted to crack open that bald head of his like the egghead he named himself." Dropping her hands, she shook her head and let her glare fade as she looked at me with a dulled expression. "Now, I can't even do that..."

I stopped. Amy hummed in question as she stared at me. I stood there for a while... before taking on a determined gaze. "Maybe not, but we can DEFINITELY take his machines apart. That's the next best thing, in my opinion."

She smirked at that with a nod. "I can go with that. Then really, all we gotta do is keep doing what we always have. Smashing bots!"

I grinned and snapped my fingers into a thumbs up. "Right-o!"

And so, we walked back in higher spirits, despite the place we were in and the things we might have learned we'd need to deal. That was then and this is now. We weren't the same as before. If Metal Sonic or any of Eggman's crock-pots came back, we'd do what we all knew we could.

Fight. And we would win, even without Sonic.


	7. Chapter 7: The Entrapped

As the plane sped off from the crown of dunes around the village, Cindy's encasing window redeployed. We lifted off into the sky, pulling the landing gear in and leaving that place behind.

Much of our flight over the land continued for quite a while until we hit the ocean, but all of it seemed to go smoothly enough. We had to cut through and destroy some minor-league badniks, but it was all easy compared to those dragonic horrors from before. A blast from the cannons is all it really took and most fell, the capsules they released letting out whatever bird was entrapped.

I continued to fly us straight over the oceanic floor, watching the afternoon sun come to sit on the horizon. This left an orange hue in the eastern sky while our west started to dim. We'd come far in a single day's time, but arguably not as far as we could have come without interruption.

"Tails, look! Angel Island on our left!"

I turned my head to look and spotted the distant island floating in the air a ways off. It's unmistakable shape was always nice to see. Too bad it had some crazy memories.

Still, I couldn't help but grin when I thought about Knuckles. For all the fun I poke at him for lacking in the smarts department, I really did like him. He was that big dope you couldn't help but like, even if he did tend to mess up.

Amy looked over at me and smiled in a pleading sort of way. "Are you sure we couldn't drag him along with us? Maybe just make a stop and try? It's starting to get late, so flying might get kinda hard, right?"

Raising my brows, I turned back to her as Cindy instinctively took the controls. "Well, there is always time to try. There isn't always time to beat your head against a brick wall, though. That's what we'll be doing if we spend any more than tonight there. Remember that it'll be even harder to pull him into anything if we factor in his guardianship over the emeralds, the fact that he and Su are an item and even factor in the other duties he doubtlessly has besides. I also have only two seats."

Amy rolled her eyes at the last one, crossing her arms and legs. "Okay, that last one makes you sound like you don't want him coming along."

I let my head fall to the side with bored eyes and a swivel in my lips. "Come on. That's not it at all."

"Well, I for one thing that the lady's idea is a fine one! I have wished to meet this... Knuckles... for quite some time, now! ... Is his name truly so simple as merely being after a part on the hand?"

With a deep sigh, I turned around and took hold of the stick again, boredly turning us toward Angel Island. "Fine. You both want it and I'm not arguing. We will TRY to get Knuckles on board, but I'm telling you. It's impossible. You can meet him. You can visit him. Do whatever, but he won't come with us. I'm more than one-hundred percent on that one."

Amy made the smuggest, widest grin as she held her hand up to the air... And then Cindy materialized a hand and gave her a high five.

I could feel my eye twitching already. They were bonding... And since when did Cindy give high-fives?! She was supposedly a proper sort, so what just happened there?

Whatever the case, we headed toward Angel island without delay...

When we finally drew close to the island, I took the plane up to it's altitude, climbing about the island's surface.

After a good fifteen minutes, we came to fly over the mountain as I pulled us into a circling flight over the top, Amy looked over at me with a raised brow...

I... hadn't been out in a while, so how was I to know what part of the island the Echidnas came to inhabit? I made a shame-filled whine, trying to figure out where I should even look. Unlike everyone else, it was highly unlikely that the Echidnas had the ability to rebuild so quickly. They didn't have substantial numbers and couldn't have had much built.

With a fed up grunt, I rolled my eyes and slapped my forehead with my palm. "Okay! So I don't know where the Echidnas are!"

Amy chuckled behind me as she clutched her mouth shut under her hands. When she opened her hands to speak, she stated plainly, "You've got to be kidding me. Is that why you didn't want to come?"

"No," I grumbled. "I didn't even know that this was gonna be a thing! I hadn't figured I'd have problems figuring out where to go, I just thought the hard part would be convinc-"

"Calculated. The Echidnas of Angel Island appear to have a small, focused populous residing above the area previously known as Hydro City. It is now the site of rebuilding efforts. While the Isle shrine of the Master Emerald does not reside here, my personal speculation leads me to believe The inhabitants will be knowledgeable to where it lies."

Cindy winked at me from the screen as I sat there with a blank stare... I cleared my throat and nodded. "R-right..." I turned the plane out of it's circling and toward the northeast point of the island. While we descended the mountain, I leaned over by the window to watch the treescapes below fly by. The trees were thick. Seeing anything below them was near impossible, though I did catch sight of a few Echidnas.

Trailing my gaze ahead, I found myself looking at a large settlement of tents and such residing on the edge of a great lake- which was new. It seemed that the river here still ran through it, but something made a lake. Might have had something to do with the settlement. As we drew closer, I realized there were small buildings of technological design erected in the middle of the tents, suggesting that the population was part of the Dark legion- or what formerly were members of the group.

There were more echidnas there than I expected to find, at least making up somewhere between one-hundred to two-hundred. And all of them looked so similar, sans the different markings and maybe scantly had mechanical dreads or limbs.

They were all watching the plane and a few would seem to start to follow our movements as I guided the plane down. Deploying the landing gear, I guided the plane down into the water after I rounded back toward the settlement grounds. Sensing water, the panels around the wheels lowered down below the wheels and came together as two skis. Surfing the waters on them, our speed fell to the single hundreds and we eventually came to rest at the very edge of the land near our destination.

Moments after the plane shut off and the window was returned to normal, several Echidnas had come to our greeting. Most seemed welcoming enough, but there were a few that seemed wary.

I rose from my seat and stood up to look at their faces while Amy seemed to grow wary and restless.

One echidna walked up behind the lot and parted them to either side, even as they protested. He was the tallest there and yet seemed the least hostile, despite looking the brute, with a calm expression (at least for an echidna's). His cool grass-green eyes stuck out while everyone else seemed to have pink, purple or blue eyes. On his chest was the mark of the lightning bolt. Faded red was the color of his fur.

Wearing a sort of necklace like the one Tikal wore, beneath it and clothing his chest was a brown vest. He wore a long, white man-skirt on his lower half secured by a similar sash to the one she wore. His hands had no gloves, possibly being too large. He also had on thick, brown boots. Honestly, this guy looked like a Shepard to a flock, but I didn't recognize him... I should recognize many of these faces, but not a one was familiar, yet.

Yet, he seemed to grin, knowing full well who I was. "You are the friend of Knuckles known as Tails, if I am to take your tails and your plane as proof."

I blinked, looking at him with a puzzled squint. "Y-yeah, but should I know... well, any of you?"

He shook his head while the rest seemed to chatter amongst themselves. With a kind smile, he bowed in a polite manner. "Welcome. Any friend of the Guardian is a friend to us all." Everyone else seemed to follow his lead and bow.

Taken off guard and made to blush by the bowing, I made a nervous grin, even as I rubbed the back of my head and my tails twitched. "Uhm... there's really no need to bow." In my mind, I was wondering deeply what was going on. This was not how I pictured coming here. Knuckles hated technology, as did a ton of Echidna... yet here Echidna were, living with technology and even welcoming myself, one who basically lives and breaths the stuff.

He straightened back up and offered me a hand down. I shook my head and smiled a little. "That's not necessary~." I took a moment to slip back on my coat and release Cindy before storing her away in the sling. Then, spinning my tails, I lifted off from the plane and left most of the echindas gawking and awing while I flew down before them.

With a hearty laugh and clap, the large one smiled down at me... which was the first time I felt small in a long time. "So, the stories were true! You do have a power like no other! But I could sense that!"

Amy finally stood up from her seat and eyed them all. "Okay, what's the deal? How are there so many Echidnas in one place? Heck, how are there so many echinda?"

I erked as everyone looked up at her, including our largest greeter. They all seemed to grow silent. I stared up at her with a nervous frown. "Amy, please! Don't be rude! I was getting to that.

Folding her arms, the pink hedgehog glared down over them and shook her head, taking a step atop the rim of her pit. "Sorry Tails, but this can't wait. We both know most of the Echidnas should be down on Mobius. There are only supposed to be a hand full of them here counting Knuckles and his friends. There is something way wrong with this pic-" The large one held up a hand, somehow making Amy blink in confusion. "-ture...?"

"Peace. it is indeed as you say. We all should not exist. This, we are well aware of." Grinning up at her, he went on. "However, Sir Knuckles is the reason for all of this being possible. His mastery of his Chaos Powers made it possible to set us free from the zone tied to the Chaos Emeralds."

I looked up at the echidna with a raised brow. "Pardon me? This is the first time I've ever heard of any of this. But... then, what does that make you all?"

It dawned on me as my eyes grew wide, just as he spoke and turned to gesture to his entire settlement. "We were the Entrapped. Tied to the Emeralds and bound to their collective zones with no way to escape or change our fate, we were to stay there for all of eternity, never dying nor allowed to leave. All of us are a collection of souls taken by their power throughout the ages." As he finished saying that, he turned to me in thought, before kneeling down to me. "You knew and still yet know one of us who was content with this fate, so long as the world remained saved. She had the strongest of wills and powerful Chaos control that allowed her temporary escape."

"Then, that really does mean that...!"

To answer me and put certainty to the guess, he nodded and smiled. "We were the same as Tikal. She is, in truth, one of my descendants. I am known as T'symel."

I almost felt floored as I gawked at a living artifact of the ancient past.

Amy herself nearly fell out the plane when she tripped from being caught off guard!

T'symel just laughed to himself. "I have to admit that I got a kick out of that."

Taking a moment to breath, I closed my eyes... then blinked them back open. "So then, if you're all freed, Tikal is too? A-and Chaos itself?"

"Half correct," He answered with a nod. "Chaos has chosen to stay alone in a new home- this Master Emerald, watching the mortal world around it. The Power, as my people deemed it, opts to give mortals a chance on behalf of Sir Knuckles. Tikal, however, I convinced to stay in the mortal world. I consider her as any among my grandchildren."

Taking a relieved sigh, I nodded, then folded my arms. "I see." Tilting my head at the rest of the echidnas around us, I asked, "So then... you all get along? And you all accept technology?"

The great echidna nodded and rose as he stepped back. "Indeed. Many of us had given up hope of living lives of any kind during our stay in the Emeralds' realms. I am certain that without being trapped inside, we would have all turned to killing one another. However many times we have fought, it eventually turned hate to indifference, then indifference to friendship. So on, so forth. And here we stand: a people freed and united, despite out different minds and pasts. It seems we have survived, yet our beliefs have been altered."

I stood there, truly amazed by this all. Echidnas of all walks... together...

Amy seemed to have calmed down upon hearing that, pulling herself up from her near fall and looking around at them all with a blank admiration. "... I... wow. So basically, jail time brought them together. That's sorta romantic." She smiled upon admitting that.

T'symel turned his attention on Amy and smiled. "I would not say romantic, but it was indeed something special." Dropping his smile, he squinted at Amy... Then, he pointed at her, making the hedgehog cock a brow and tilt her head. He spoke. "You have power like to a demi-god. Your very being is heavy with divine energy. Who are you?"

Blinking in confusion, Amy pointed at herself. "W-well, I'm Amy Rose, but power like a what? I just swing a hammer around."

He seemed interested all of the sudden as he turned completely toward her, dropping his hand. "Hammer... Show me."

Seeming nervous again, Amy furrowed her brows. "U-uh... Y-yeah, Okay. J-just gimme a sec." She jumped from the cockpit and landed on the ground next to us. I just looked back and forth between her and the large echidna with raised brows.

She extended her hand as a puff of smoke produced the hammer and vanished. Everyone seemed in awe of the feat, including T'symel, who merely stood with livened eyes and a hand to his chin. The rest of them began to chatter about Amy.

"VERY interesting..." T'symel walked over to her as she came to rest the hammer on the ground. He gave it a few test tugs, even though he couldn't budge it... He seemed even more intrigued after that, eyes wide. Humming to himself in thought, he nodded, then turned to the both of us. "You two should follow me. I am certain you have business with Sir Knuckles, however I would have a word with the two of you before I tell you where you might find him."

The both of us looked at each other with guarded expression, then nodded.

He smiled, then waved everyone off as they bowed and left us, some seeming disappointed for having to leave. The greater echidna then waved us over to follow as he began to walk about the settlement.

We followed close behind, even as I looked around at the construction going on. The echidna appeared to be making more of the advanced structures that stood in the center, most guided by a former Dark Legionary on what to do.

"I know of Tails' power as a Chosen from Sir Knuckles's recounting of the Master Emerald's birth, however the power you are possessed of, young Amy Rose, is a great one indeed that relies on no emerald. I had mistaken you for the wielder of Mjolnier, but that is not the case. This power is simply raw. Miraculous. Mysterious, even. I have seen it only once before in my natural life-time." He turned to her as he stopped, as did we... "You are host to a Holy Ring's power. Tell me. Have you been in contact with any strange rings that radiate holy light?"

Blinking at the revelation of what the echidna believed, she didn't have to think about it much. "I... Well, I sorta made a wish upon a ring the Acorn Royal Family called the Ring of Acorns, but I heard that it was forged from an emerald's power..."

He put a hand to his chin, rubbing it in thought as he closed his eyes. "It is indeed the same, then. The method was lost to us, but my own ancestors were said to hold even greater Chaos control than the normal gifted's- perhaps on the level of Tikal and Sir Knuckles. They used this power to forge the rings I call Holy Rings with their bare hands and power siphoned from Chaos Emeralds. Given only to a chosen few, the power they granted was that of a super being. The only powers truly greater are the chaos emeralds or this new Master Emerald, for they are the raw source harnessed." He opened his eyes and looked down at Amy. "And it appears this manufactured Ring of Acorns was every bit as powerful, despite being made by what would appear to be more mortal means."

Amy and I both looked at each other, surprised to learn this.

"However..."

We turned our attention back to T'symel.

"... That power is overtaxable. While it is harnessed Chaos, it can be depleted if one does something that outstrips it's means. If this were to happen, the power would vanish, returning to Chaos. Be forewarned. If this happens, you may well lose whatever blessings it has given you and possibly even suffer pain... Use it with care and and respect it's limitations..."

I looked over at Amy with a new-found concern.

She'd come to clutch her dress above her chest with a hand.

"... Well, now that this lovely warning has been made, might I simply state that it is rude to ignore that there are indeed three of us."

We all erked a bit, before my eyes looked down to Cindy... as did T'symel's. "I am well aware of my existence inside this tablet, however I would hope to be remembered as an individual myself."

I sheepishly grinned down at Cindy as I went to apologize, only to have T'symel reach into my sling and pull her out as I yelped and protested with a "hey!"

I panicked while watching him look her over with a puzzled brow. "What is this contraption? It has no mouth and yet it spe-"

Cindy's Angry emoticon flashed on the screen in red! "GOOD SIR! I will have you unhand me this instant!"

The greater echidna yelped and dropped her, making me gasp as I dove forward and caught her before she hit the ground... I sighed in relief and stood back up.

The emote became a panicked frown with X's for eyes. "G-goodness! Must you be so jumpy?!"

I stood up and looked at the heavily confused echidna with a nervous smile. "P-please be careful with her. I know she isn't quite what you're used to, but Cindy is an A.I. that lives in this tablet. A.I. means Artificial Intelligence. I put in an emergency safety just in case the tablet does break, but I'd rather than NEVER happen... EVER."

With wide eyes and sweat trailing his temple, he stared for a moment... Then, he cleared his throat and nodded while his eyes relaxed back into their calm demeanor. "I-I understand. Very well, then. Eh..." He thought for a moment, then turned his attention on me. "You came here for Sir Knuckles, yes? What were your reasons?"

With a reserved grin, I spoke while I saved Cindy back up. "Well, we were hoping to pay him a visit. Maybe even take him along for a sort of... mission. Originally, I wasn't going to bother him, but Amy and Cindy thought that I should at least try, even if just to find a place to put the plane down for the night. I could have flown even then, but it's probably best I don't, the body needing sleep and all."

He nodded at all this and made a wry smile. "... You would be well to try. Though, as you may well be aware, he will most certainly say no. He insists upon guarding the Emerald shrine personally, even though his own have given him no shortage of offers for his reprieve. The boy is head-strong. That is for certain."

I rolled my eyes and looked at Amy. "Told ya."

The both of her and Cindy stated in unison, "Ask him where he is," making me flinch and turn back to the echidna with a groan.

Well, obviously, he heard them both and giggled a little to himself. "It seems that you are outnumbered, friend." With a serious stare, he dropped the smile and turned to point in the direction of the mountains. "Sir Knuckles has moved the Shrine to Osohai Mountain, the tallest of the three. However, the shrine itself is not at the top of the mountain. Rather, it lies within. You must travel from here by foot to reach the foot of the mountain pass. There, you shall find naught but what appears to be a wall where the path ends. Hidden mechanisms bar the way. To open the door, you will first need to activate three in the proper sequence. As you are a friend of Sir Knuckles, the mechanisms are a false ledge, a rock that you shall find at your feet and a stalagmite to the right of that. There are only one of each. After you activate them in that order, you must push where the door is. After ten seconds, the mechanisms will reset, however, and lock for the remainder of the day. I suggest figuring out where the door lies before activating any of the three."

Both of us nodded, then turned in the direction of where he'd pointed.

T'symel bowed to us and said, "Ever walk the path, dear friends." And then, he left us, walking back to the settlement...

Thankfully, there was only a small forest between us and the mountains. I looked down to Cindy and pulled her from the sling, looking at her screen. "Can you set a course, Cindy?"

"Indeed I can, Master. ..." The globe zoomed in down through the clouds as the Arrow leading us to Sonic remained. As the globe became a map of Angel Island, a marker for our destination was set atop Mt. Osohai... such a stupid name. A dotted line leading from it to a green circle- us- appeared next. "There we are. Course set, Master Tails."

I smiled and looked over to Amy. "C'mon! I'll lead the way."

With a grin, the hedgehog nodded. "Right-o, O Fearless Chosen!"

She giggled at the word choice, but all I did was stare at her with a bored expression. I had been trying to forget all about that for the longest time. I didn't care that I basically birthed the Master Emerald (ew) OR was supposedly better than Knuckles or Sonic.

... In the end, was I really...?

I grew to somberly stare at the ground, lost in the thought of me being here and him not.

"Tails~!"

I gasped and looked up to see Amy, who had already started to walk... and was still walking. "Byyyye~!"

Panicking and stumbling over my own feet, I raced after her! "Dangit Amy, wait! You don't know where to go!"

When I caught up to her, she stuck her tongue at me and let me lead the way.

Now, if only I had my plane. Did we really have to go on foot...?


	8. Chapter 8: Brotherhood of Guardians

The forest was small compared to others that could be found on Angel island. Apparently called The Hammock, it spanned no further than half way around the mountains on the east side, forming what it's name suggested. In honesty, We got through it before the sun set.

Exiting from the brush, just as we were promised, there started a semi-narrow rock path that lead part way up the mountain. With a smile as I placed Cindy into her sling, I said, "I think we'll be fine from here~."

Amy charged on ahead with a laugh upon hearing that. Watching her run up the path brought on a chuckle. I simply followed after her at my own paced jog. I COULD race her if I- I blinked to myself as I skid to a stop... Shrugging, I smirked with an idea in mind.

"Aaalright! Wanna race? Fine!" I took myself back into a jog... then I started into a run... And eventually into a sprint before I clicked my heels together and engaged the jet anklet's air propulsion, the shutters flying open! I spun my tails with great speed as I rocketed forward along the path, arms out to steady myself!

I rocketed towards and then quickly passed the hedgehog with easy as she shouted, "Hey!"

All I could do was howl in excitement, even as I pulled the corners, twists and turns of the mountains!

As her sling glided the air along my side, Cindy voiced her stammered concerns! "M-master, could you please be more careful?! This is perhaps too fast for me!"

I laughed a little, even though I probably should have payed more attention. "C'mon! I promise you won't fall out!"

"While I'm well a-aware that common inertia is ever-present at such speeds, I fear that I do NOT CAAAAAAAAARE!"

I sped up even faster to prove that she wouldn't fall out, ever aware of my surrounding!

As I was getting settled into the speed, I looked back to see if there was ANY chance of seeing Amy... And was left wide-eyed at the fact that I spotted her sprinting strong my way with a hand keeping her hat on her head while it flailed through the wind! I had to be going one-hundred fifty miles per hour and she was gaining! She cracked a smirk of her own. "I'VE CHASED AFTER FASTER, FOX BOY!"

I turned forward and sweat a bit while smirking. "Jeeze. I guess that ring really DOES make her a force to be reckoned with." Determination narrowing in my eyes, I put more effort into spinning my tails faster as they began to produce sound like an airplane's propeller, speeding me up! "BUT I DIDN'T JUST CHASE! I KEPT UP!"

I sped down the path with Amy blazing behind me! To anyone who might possibly be able to see us from a distance, we might look like an orange and white streak running across the side of the mountains with dust kicking up behind us from our trails!

Insane as it might be, I didn't really know how much longer I could keep up the effort. I was without practice and without a ring that helped my stamina, which was apparently what Amy had. It even let her run this fast!

"Anyone ever tell ya not to blow all your stamina at once?!"

I jolted my head to the side and found Amy there, running like mad as she started to pass me. I gaped at her while she stuck her tongue out at me! With an unnerved cock in my brow and frown, I was just about to drop my speed... before I gasped at what I saw coming up! The path suddenly ended off! She'd run right off the wall!

I shouted ahead with hands cupped to my mouth! "AMY, WATCH OUT!"

She suddenly snapped her head forward while her eyes grew wide and yelped! She stopped her legs as she jumped into a skid on both hands and feet as her hat flew right off of her head and snagged around the top of a stalagmite! Her speed slowed quickly, but not quickly enough!

I saw that I pushed myself to fly faster! Just as she was skidding from the edge, I reached down for her and took her wrists in my hands as we sped off the cliff side and into the air as she and Cindy both screamed, but it didn't take long for Amy to start howling with laughter!

While I slowed us down in the air as I clicked my heels together and shut of the jets. I looked back at the somewhat distant wall behind us as we started to halt in mid-air, me panting and smiling at the same time. When we finally came to a total hover, I looked down at Amy and saw her giggling a little with a nervous smile. "O-okay, can I just admit that was kinda fun...?"

With a huff from me, I shook my head as my breathing steadied. "You *huff*... Y-you are the craziest girl I have ever met- both in ability and attitude." I cocked a brow at her. "You just called nearly falling to death fun."

She did her best to shrug her shoulders with a grin, then laughed a little as she got an idea. "We definitely need to remember that trick for moves in the future, though. That trick might just save us, one of these days."

"I don't believe you..." I simply shook my head and flew us back over to the rock path, setting her down as I noticed her hat on the stalagmite. (Also, the reason that Cindy wasn't talking was probably because she fainted. I could hear her tablet going through a reboot.)

As I landed us both on the rock floor, Amy touched down first and I came down after letting go of her hands.

I moved to inspected the rock spike the hat ended up on, remembering T'symel's words... "One is a Stalagmite, huh...?" Nodding and carefully picked the hat from the top as Amy turned around and blinked at me, she smiled wide! Then, she whirled around, bending into me with eyes fixed on the hat! "My hat!" She snatched it from me and affixed it back atop her head with a quick twirl!

I blinked, a little taken aback... then grinned a little. "Y'know... That's one lucky hat. That thing should have sailed right off the cliff wall, but instead snagged on the one place it would be saved."

She blinked down at me and cocked a brow.. before staring up at her hat. "Ya think so?"

"From everything it's been through so far? Shoulda been long gone three times over counting now. It's pure luck, alright."

Seeming to think about it more as she pulled the hat back off, she looks at it with a hum... She went and reeled it back as she prepared to throw it off the mountain like a discus, but I quickly grabbed hold of as she was going for the throw. She looked at me with a confused blink.

With a nervous smile, I shook my head. "Not lucky enough to survive purposeful discard."

... Taking the hat from my hand, she simply scrunches her cheek and clears her throat, fwipping the hat back onto her head.

I smiled. I think I was starting to take a liking to that oversized thing. Shaking my head a little, I turned back to the stalagmite; a tall spike from the floor that was nearly too tall for me to reach the top of. Amy could do it, no problem, but she was tall. I'm... admittedly short.

My curiosity walked me away from that as the pink hedgehog watched me with her own brand of curio. My eyes scanned the rock wall for a stand-out ledge... and found one twenty feet away and far above my natural height I'd need to hover up for that one. "Two..."

Amy cocked a brow as she realized I was counting. She walked up to me and tilted her head. "What's up with the counting? Do you see something I don't?"

"I think so," I affirmed with honesty. Looking down at my feet, I searched for a rock. Didn't take all that long. Five feet away, there it was. "Bingo."

With a confused furrow in her brows, Amy whine. "I get it. You know something I don't. Care to share, boy genius?"

I chuckled at that and shook my head before turning to her. "Well, I think we've found the entrance to the Shrine."

She blinked her eyes wide and smiled as she picked me from the ground faster than I could protest or prepare myself for. "REALLY?!" She actually shook me around a bit which FURTHER dazed me!

I groaned as as she stopped. I felt sick to my stomach AND dizzy, bobbing my head about as I gave a muttered answer, "Y-yeaaah vut if ya could p-put me zdown thah woulh be niiiice~..."

She calmed down as she stared into me with a cocked brow... Then blushed as her eyes grew wide. "Oh." She gently set me to the ground in a sitting position. Crouching low to me, she giggled a little. "Y'know, for a fox that can fly up high in a matter of seconds, you have a surprisingly weak stomach.

Steadying my head with a hand, I looked at the hedgehog with eyes still slightly dazed. "There is a difference between... uh, between gradual building force... and the abrupt force you just exerted over me. They are not the same. AND YOU SHOOK ME."

With a bitten lip, Amy stared off into space, muttering a sorry.

Complaining as I rose to me feet, my eyes went back over to the wall. Walking over to investigate more closely, my eyes scanned the solid, craggy surface for any unusual formation. If there was any of that, chances are that the door would be there. Looking down at my feet, I squinted at what seemed like the wall didn't match up with the ground. Getting down on my hands and knees, I looked even closer and notice there was even a slight recess about 4 feet wide beneath.

With a nod, I was satisfied. I got up and rose back to my feet, looking over at Amy, who had taken to leaning on the wall with her arms crossed. "Okay. This is where the door is. I know the mechanism's layout, but we have to do this right so we don't end up locked out." She nodded and stood straight.

I spun my tails and rose up to the ledge. Looking down at the hedgehog, I pointed to the rock. "Only move that rock AFTER I've moved this ledge! Then run over to the wall and I'll get the stalagmite! You just need to push the wall after I say push! Okay?"

She gave me a thumbs up and nodded. "Gotcha!"

I looked down at Cindy's tablet and pat her. "Cindy, I need you to time us for ten seconds after I say go."

"... As you will, Master. I shall vocally count your time... but NO THEATRICS, PLEASE!"

With a nervous giggle, I scratched the back of my head. "S-sorry..." I focused back on my job and raised my hand, taking hold of the ledge... I could feel the sweat dripping my temple and my heart pound. If this didn't work, we'd be locked outside at night. The sun was setting below the horizon, painting us half-way in shade from path...

I pushed down on the ledge just as I said, "Go," collapsing the hold as clicks started behind the wall, Cindy beginning to count!

Amy quickly pushed the rock with her foot before running over to the door with a hand on it's surface!

As she got to the wall, I hovered down over to the stalagmite and tried to push it! ... Nothing! I groaned as I felt a wave like heat hit me! Nerves!

"Five... four... three..."

I had no time! I twisted the stalagmite's top as it gave, twisted and clicked! I quickly shouted, "Push, Amy!"

The hedgehog almost tackled the wall as her body flattened to it and pushing it in as the clicking on the other side halted. She yelped as the wall fell through and quickly stumbled back from the door and onto her rear as it fell in!

The rock slab of wall collapsed over and slammed down HARD into place! -BAM!-

... I flew over beside Amy, sighing with relief as I landed on my feet, tails spinning to a halt. I offered her a hand as she looked up at me, grinning as she took it and pulled herself onto her feet.

We both looked at the collapsed wall and saw a dimly torch-lit path across from the door, which had become a bridge filling a gap that would have otherwise led to someone unfortunate falling into a dark pit... I bet there was more than darkness further down, but I'd rather not think about it.

"I detect chaos energy at our fronts, immense in concentration. Due to the energy's amount, my sensors are not able to detect what else may be is in the vicinity, otherwise. Even as we have been made aware of what to expect, I advise caution, Master Tails."

I couldn't agree more. Both me and Amy stepped into the cave and made sure to tread carefully. My eyes constantly scanned around us as we got deeper into the cave, but it seemed there were no traps.

We'd walk for a good and solid five minutes before we'd come upon something that looked all too familiar.

It was a very... unusual moment, too.

We had just entered a cave and we were in awe of the sky above us, something that couldn't have been possible... Yet it was the starry, partially cloudy night sky we would have found ourselves looking up at had we stayed long enough outside.

My eyes trailed down to the real prize before I let out a shrill gasp. I stared out... at the Shrine of Emeralds.

The who place seemed to have been upgraded in ways. It still sat upon the faithful Shrine Isle, which hovered about another impossibility: an ocean that sat at least ten-thousand feet below us. The shrine's make up had always consisted of stone, but now it was a fully realized work with completed stone totems which kept each individual emerald upon their tops. Around the shrine and behind the totems was a neat, almost new cobble path ringing the entire central monument. The shrine itself, a tall, triple stack of stone sections and a tall staircase leading up to the most massive gem of all, was made grandiose, even clean. I bet if the sun were out, I'd go blind or even be able to cook an egg on any of those stone steps and then be able to eat it.

The enshrined Master Emerald was as radiant as ever, yet somehow seemed more... alive... I don't know why I thought that, all of the sudden.

And that wasn't all. The island was NOT vacant in any way. Every echidna on the isle was a member of the original echidna race and people that I had personally met. Passing or otherwise, I knew each of their names They were the Brotherhood of Guardians, plus one if Tikal was truly here.

I couldn't help but smile and I think that Amy was smiling along with me, if she wasn't gawking.

Now, looking at my feet, I realized something... There was no way to get there. It was bare sea below us. With a troubled expression, I cocked a brow, but immediately blinking wide as a bridge of light immediately began to assemble, step by step as it led out and toward the island!

The echidnas there did just as the ones outside did; they stopped whatever they were doing and looked out directly at us, but they seemed to grow alert... They didn't know who we were and probably didn't expect us.

I hummed in a bit of concern at that. "Head's up, Amy. I don't think we've been expected."

She immediately took the hint and stared out at the echidnas. "Think they'll fight us?"

My head shook as I began to walk the bridge of light, each step making a shimmering, soft noise as my shoe walked over them. I could immediately tell when Amy started to follow, because the shimmering sound doubled.

It was a surprisingly tense walk, us watching the echidnas as they grew closer and the unease in their expressions growing more and more apparent the closer we got to them. I recognized one before all of the others, but it couldn't be... Julie-Su! The very same echidna that trained Amy to fight. She was the one that awaited us... but... She'd been banished... how was she here?

She was a pink echidna with a few odd traits. For one, she had violet, short hair with long backs in the front kept in tufts. Most echidnas either didn't have that or shaved it right off. I can see why, being that most of them seemed to have hair by just having the quills I keep referring to as dreads. So, one might make the silly mistake of thinking they have hair... on their hair.

Another weird trait- or traits- was her cybernetics enhanced arm and her one cyber quill on the side of her face. both seemed to have gone through a redesign, being that their make-up was now sleek and chromed. Her quill might have even been a non-metallic substance. It seemed to bend freely as it was blown by the wind.

Other than that, your average female-... okay, maybe semi-average female echidna. Her other characteristics consisted of dark violet, sharp eyes consistent in nearly every echidna, a few silver ringlets on her other quills and the spikeless hands covered by white gloves that most female echidna possessed.

She wore a brown and teal tunic tied down by a solid gold utility belt over khaki pants that tucked straight under thigh-high, teal boots. Her very same pair she always wore. Strapped to her side in a holster was that very same double barrel photon gun. The same one I thought was ugly. Ugh.

She came to loosen her glare once she caught sight of Amy, eyes wide as her hand drew away from her gun. "Amy Rose?"

The pink hedgehog smiled wide and point both hands at her own face as we stepped of the light bridge and onto solid ground. "The one and only~!"

The pink ECHIDNA made a dirty grin while huffing a laugh, hand on her hip as she leaned on the very same side. "Well, well. Slap me and call me Mary. It IS my fellow pink devil!"

Amy smirked and clapped her hands together. "And it looks like you're doing pretty good for being banished."

Scoffing a bit and waving the hedgehog off. "Don't underestimate me. A fake devil can't drag me to hell."

The pink hedgehog smiled wide and hugged the echidna, much to the rough woman's wide eyed surprise. She looked down at me with blush in her cheek. I only shrugged with a sheepish grin. As she opened her mouth, Amy gasped and separated from her, only to pull her hand up to Su's surprise and gawk at a ring that sat on the echidna's finger... Her third finger, to be exact. It was a wedding ring with a perfect diamond sitting in it's crown, sparkling like a star. Ä wedding ring?! When did...?! Who?!" The young hedgehog smiled from ear to ear with excitement. "It was Knuckles, wasn't it? Tell me it was Knuckles!"

Julie just stood there for a moment, blinking as her blush died down. Then, she shrugged with a grin, brow raised. "I could never say no to that big dope~..."

Amy squeed and took hold of the echidna's hand, admiring the ring a bit, but more inevitably violating personal space as she hugged the pink Echidna tight, much to her shuddering. She smiled crookedly, despite that. She was definitely not a hugger. "J-jeeze, girl! It's just marriage! H-hahah!"

I just looked back and forth between the two of them. I had no place in this conversation. I wanted to ask how it was possible for her to be here... but... this wasn't the time. Shrugging my shoulders and shaking my head, I walked away toward the path leading to the shrine and left those two alone. "Guess it's just us two, Cindy. At least you get to meet Knuckles."

"Indeed... Mmh..."

I cocked a brow at that and looked down at my side. "C-Cindy...?" I took her out of the sling and looked at her screen. Everything looked normal, except for her current emoticon, which was an animated, huffing and sweating face. I furrowed my brows and sweat myself. "Holy cow, what's wrong?"

"I... I-I'm fine... The proximity of the emeralds has my head in a deal of-... Mh? ... Head? ... Wait, who are...? No, I don't... I beg y-your pardon?"

I was getting very concerned. "C-Cindy, hang on. Who are you talking to? Is being so close to the emeralds really hurting that much?" Pain... It's something very real. Nothing was truly immune to it. Everything had it's own variety of pain. For Cindy, it could be an overload or a glitch that could make her register pain, but this was the first time she'd ever been in the very presence of the emeralds. Were they paining her...?

"...N-no, Master. It's alright, now... For a few moments, yes it was painful... however it seems that Chaos is helping. Power readings have drop significantly."

I sighed for a moment... then blinked from confusion. "Wait, Chaos?"

"Precisely! I, too, was taken by surprise, though it seems the two of us communicated for a small amount of time, just now. Quite a pleasant fellow and most considerate!"

I stared incredulously at the tablet, understandably baffled. How did she and Chaos speak to each other when Chaos should be in the Master Emerald? Heck, how did she even understand Chaos in the first place? I didn't and couldn't have programmed her with that sort of ability... "Cindy, what are-"

"He truly is a benevolent soul, isn't he?"

My ears perked as my eyes grew wide from the sound of an all-too-familiar angelic voice. I turned my head and looked to my side to see... Tikal... It was true...

She stood there, flesh and blood, beside me as she smiled down at Cindy, then turned her attention on me.

She looked every bit as she did the day I last saw her. Orange fur, longer than usual quills with white bands scattered along their many lengths, unusually rounded, big, blue eyes, a peaceful grin creasing her lips and the most modest disposition ever. Unlike every other echidna outside of the former Dark Legionaries, she had not a single tribal mark on her body.

On her head and beneath the first layer of quills was her golden, sapphire encrusted circlet, rich with distinctive engravings. The same sort of necklace T'symel wore hung around her neck. beneath is, a simple, white loop shirt covered her chest area, leaving her shoulders and waist bare. Two golden loops hugged an arm. Her hands, which wore full fingered gloves unlike the other echidna, had a blue ring cuffing either's wrist.

Covering her bottom half was a tribal, cloth skirt of green with beige and light red diamond designs throughout. The back of the skirt was a longer than the from, draping the ground like a miniature cape. White sandals with straps that flowed up her legs until her thighs were her last articles of clothing.

... If I'm honest, even though I've never felt anything special for her and never even directly spoken to her, she has an air of calm and peace that was too incredible for words. And she was beautiful to boot. No one would dare lie about that and Rouge would be envious, I'd bet. I couldn't help but stare in awe.

She smiled whole-heartedly and spoke.

"Hello, Chosen One."

I blinked back to reality and shook my head upon getting the title. Sighing and looking away, I shrugged, but still made a decent grin. "H-hey. Uhm... It's just Tails. Chosen one doesn't sound right at all for me."

She huffed a giggle as she tilted her head. "I don't know if I agree, seeing as you've done so much and yet remain humble of it. Though, yes. Tails has a nicer sound to it."

My shoulders gave another shrug while I rolled my eyes. I looked up to her and blinked out of my funk. "So, we sorta came here to see Knuckles. We- or I, I guess- have to ask him something."

She nodded and offered me her hand. I looked at it for a while, before I took hold of it. She led me by the hand to the steps of the great shrine. Walking the steps, she spoke. "I... cannot appropriately express the depth of my joy to be given this chance to live again. Sir Knuckles has done something that I shall be forever grateful for- something truly beautiful... It is more than any could hope for and like to a dream for me..."

I was without words to say. I had been finding it so difficult to believe Knuckles- our residential bonehead- had become a true hero... But then again, he did have a certain cliche'd heroic aspect to himself. I mean, I guess? I did eventually have a question to ask though. "...H-how can a place like this exist? WE just entered a mountain and came out to all this."

"Yes. That is truly the impossible side of this, isn't it? However, it would be more accurate to say that you opened the path in the mountain linked to this isle. We are not on Angel island any longer." She stopped about half way up the steps and pointed off to the left, into the distance with a grin.

I looked out into the horizon... There, sitting level to this very isle but so far away, was the silhouette of a distant Angel Island! It left me in awe to even imagine, but to see it with my own eyes? They were wide. "B-but how can...?!"

"I know. It is quite hard to believe one can step through a cave and arrive here." She giggled as I looked back up at her, then returned to climbing the steps as she led me. "As you might be aware, mine and my fellow former Entrapped have made no shortage of attempts in reasoning that Sir Knuckles could bid us protect the emeralds in his stead, though he remains transfixed upon keeping the guardianship of the emerald for himself. Similarly, his friends and fellow brotherhood members refused to allow him to guard it alone, so they came to build refuge in the underbelly of the isle as a base of sorts and even a home."

She pointed down to a cellar door built in the side of the shrine's base where I saw the doors open up as Sabre stepped out, yawning and stretching in place as he was approached by Amy and Julie-Su. They began to talk to one another, but it was obviously too far down to hear for me.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs- quite the climb- I spotted the familiar red-hot echidna I knew all too well... or maybe I didn't rethinking. There he was... Knuckles The Echidna. He was meditating before the master emerald in mid-air, coated in emerald green energy.

He hadn't changed in looks much at all. Still the same red fur, same white, spiked boxing gloves, still the same large red and yellow shoes with the metal tongues bolted down to the rest of the shoe. That crest on his chest in the shape of a winking moon was still there... but.. there was this new, thin, diamond-shaped marking above it. His eyes were closed.

I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

"Master Tails, I still can't detect other energies well, but the figure in front of you... This is Sir knuckles, correct?"

I cocked a brow and looked down at Cindy. "Yes, but why?"

"... Hmm... Then the readings are especially unusually vital. Out of every other echidna present, my sensors indicate him to be at least thrice what Tikal's already substantial power appears to be."

I looked back toward Knuckles and began to understand there might be far more change in him than I realized.

Tikal stepped forward and focused as she glowed with green light as well, but not nearly as brilliant. After a few moments, her light dimmed as she looked at me and nodded. "He is ready to speak. Close your eyes and try to focus on your friend."

I looked over to her briefly before nodding and looking toward Knuckles... I came to sit down in my spot before I closed my eyes. I didn't want to accidentally fall over... ... ...

I suddenly saw the very same knuckles walking out of the darkness and fading into view with a smile. His eyes... They were different. Sharp as ever, but they had been died emerald. He stood with his arms crossed and spoke. "Long time no see, Tails. Bet this isn't anything like what you expected, right?"

I had soon come to realize that I had my own me as I looked down and examined myself... I could see my reflection in the darkness below, as if it were a floor. One of my eyes were a brighter blue suddenly and I seemed to have a flicky on my shoulder... Looking back up at him, I shook my head, confused. "No, not even a little. What is all this?"

He huffed a laugh and swiped his hands to the side as the scene suddenly turned bright! I shielded my eyes and gasped... before I looked around and saw the sunny, somewhat cloudy sky above. I looked down and realized that I was standing on tile floor reflecting everything above.

Dropping my hand back down, I turned my attention to Knuckles, whole once again folded his arms. "Next time, you do it."

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. "I don't think I'd even know the first thing about this."

He gestured with a hand to the "world" around us. "This... is my own personal zone. Everyone in the world has one of these. You could also refer to it as a sub-plane in our own heads, if you want."

I thought about all of this for a moment... Then shook my head and focused. "I think you know I didn't come to just chat."

He stopped smiling and nodded as he drew near and dropped his arms to his sides. "Yeah, Kinda obvious. You don't usually care about this sorta thing. You rather your technology. So. What's on yer' mind?"

I got straight to the point after taking a "breath"... Turning a stern stare, I spoke. "I picked up a signal from Sonic. I'm going after our hero. Amy decided to join me, so I was hoping... that you might. So was she and Cindy."

He cocked a brow. "Cindy? The one that spoke to Chaos by accident earlier?"

I nodded.

He seemed to truly begin to think, crossing his arms yet again while he tapped a foot to the false ground. "... I think you know what my usual answer is... but Sonic, huh? That was definitely the last thing I thought you'd tell me." He looked me on the eyes and went on. "Tails. I gotta ask you something about Cindy."

Knuckles wanted to know about technology? I blinked wide in surprise and whistled. "And THAT was the last thing I thought you'd ask about. Go ahead, I guess."

He thought for a moment, paying no mind to my remark. Stiff as usual. When his eyes returned to mine, they tightened with an air of seriousness. "How did you come to make her? She's not like Nicole. I don't think I'd even class her as a Mobian or even a human of any kind I've ever seen like what Nicole appears as. And yeah. I saw a lot."

I cocked a brow as I grew nervous, looking off from him. I knew she was different, but that knuckles saw something different from what Nicole had was strange. ... Then again, maybe not. Nicole told me that Cindy hadn't taken any real form or shape when they personally met on the cyber level. I put a hand to my chin in thought, humming. "Well, I know that I gave her an advanced programming algorithm and programmed her to be hyper advanced. I hand crafted and designed everything I could about her, but her personality, the accent, the tendencies and even some of her own advancements were due more to her own touches.

Though, it wasn't long before she was such a powerful A.I. that she started causing problems for her host machines and sometimes broke them. She was growing so fast that technology itself couldn't keep up with her. It was distressing and she still doesn't quite like the idea of going anywhere without me, so I couldn't just tell her to move herself to a network. Instead, she herself suggested that I install a safety limiter. That very same thing is what's keeping her from blowing her own tablet."

Looking up at Knuckles, I saw him scratching his head and cocking his brow... I just stared at him with a dull expression and dumbed it down. "I made her too well. She made personal improvements. She was too strong. I had to limit her power so she wouldn't break stuff."

Knuckles seemed to understand after that, nodding his head. Then, he took a moment, closing his eyes. "Well, whatever she is, she's certainly... different... And different can be dangerous."

I half glared at Knuckles, feeling like he'd just insulted me, personally. "What...? Cindy isn't like that. She isn't some power craving machine like what we dealt with in the Iron Queen. You don't even know her!"

"And sorry, but you don't know what she is." He sharpened his gaze on me. "Neither do I and I'm the one who actually saw her. This is nothing like Nicole and nothing like the Iron Queen, so you say, but what I saw filled me with burning questions. What is she? What side is she on? How long before you can't control her? And what would it take to take her down if I'm right?"

My eyes completed their glare into Knuckles, my hands shaking and my tails twitching. "...You don't know her at all. How DARE you? Cindy has done nothing but help anyone she can when she can do it. So yeah. You're right. She's powerful, but she's never misused her power. Just like Nicole, all she has ever done is centered on helping people like us. And just like with Nicole, someone is telling me I should fear her!" My hands squeezed into tight fists. "Where do people like you get off? You're judging her before you even gave her a chance. Is it really because of power... or because she's advanced technology?"

Knuckles's brow twitched before he dropped his arms to his sides. He closed his eyes for a moment... before opening them again and calming down. "... I honestly never understand what's going on in that head of yours... You're the Chosen One and know that you could have great control over chaos if you just tried. And yet, despite that, you choose technology over your destiny."

I relaxed myself a bit, but kept my glare, shaking my head. "Sorry, but I don't believe in destiny. I don't believe someone meant to choose me out of everyone else in the world that could be more worthy of power like that. I just believe that I have raw talent and that's all. Does that mean that I should care? No. And yeah. I'm ultimately the reason the master emerald exists, but so what." I shrugged and dropped my glare, frowning. "That power is all fine and dandy, but it apparently discriminates with favoritism. Technology doesn't, because EVERYONE can share in it's benefits without having to be chosen. Your own people had to have seen this. The echidnas both in here and on Angel island are living with it..." I looked at his left hand and found a matching ring... "And one specific echidna probably can't live without it at this point..."

Knuckles's eyes suddenly shot wide. He gazed into the ring on his hand and grew silent... After a moment, he didn't look so certain of himself anymore, seeming to search for an answer. "... I-I..."

... I sighed and shook my head. "Look. Whatever. You're just gonna keep arguing with me. Me on the other hand? I'm starting to feel that I've been a seventh of the way around the world." I gave him one last look before shutting my eyes and speaking again. "I'm still going after Sonic's signal. I don't know about you, but I want to know what happened to him, at least. I am well aware that I could find anything at the end of the road, but I'd rather see it for myself. Come or stay, I'm going and so is Amy."

And then, I left that realm, leaving Knuckles there alone to think...


	9. Chapter 9: Handed Down

When I next opened my eyes, I was back in front of the Master Emerald and Knuckles's body, still cloaked in chaos energy.

"An interesting theory, Madam, though I surmise that perhaps they could be more in time. The fe-... Ah! Master Tails seems to be roused!"

I cocked my brow I rose up to my feet before turning myself around and seeing Tikal. She was sitting on the steps and holding Cindy's tablet, looking back at me with a grin. "As it would appear! Welcome back to the mortal world, Tails!"

It took me a minute to register what I was seeing, though I did eventually grin with a cocked brow, scratching my head. "Huh. Cindy in the hands of someone other than me and not getting crazy about it? You must be something special, Tikal. That has NEVER happened before."

My statement made the echidna giggle, shrugging her shoulders as she handed Cindy back over to me. "Well, I'm not so sure that I am so much as special, though it is a prideful thing to be well received more often than not."

I huffed a laugh while slipping Cindy into the sling. "Well, I hope that you consider her a friend, because I think she does you."

"Indeed! You are quite the charm, Madam Tikal. If not Knuckles, you would be welcome to join us, I'm sure."

With a suppressed grin, she turned her gaze on Cindy as she joined her hands. "Sadly... I-I'm not ready for the outside world, yet. I have been warned to learn of many things before any departure to such a place can be made. Laws, society, countries and otherwise are still uncertainties to me. Especially myself and Ancestor T'symel. We are among the eldest Entrapped."

"I see... What a shame. I do so enjoy the soothing presence you carry. Maybe someday, then."

She blushed a little at the mention and blinked her eyes wide. "S-soothing presence? I believed myself to be intimidating to most." Her brows furrowed. "They are rare to approach me."

I cocked my brow and sunk my head a bit, not believing a word of that. "... Intimidation is not one of your abilities. No offense, Tikal."

She seemed to sweat a bit with that, smiling nervously as she shifted. "I-I sincerely hope you have the right of it."

"He's got it right, alright. You couldn't scare a mouse."

I looked beyond Tikal as she quickly spun around to see both Amy and Julie-Su standing behind her on the steps. Julie was the one who spoke.

Tikal blinked a bit, but otherwise remained silent while she stared into the other echidna.

Su took a shrug as she rolled her eyes with annoyance. "Ya gonna make me say it? Fine." She pointed at her and went dull. "You're pure like dove down. Everyone here's afraid that when we talk to ya, you'll be way different compared to our norm. So, we let you be and just go about our days, if we can help it. Never bothers us that yer' here. You just give off the softy priss vibe of a sheltered princess."

The gentle echidna flinched inwardly and frowned as her eyes shut. "O-oh..."

Amy frowned as well, eying Julie like someone she didn't know. That wasn't right.

I saw that and immediately glared at her through full disapproval.

Another shrug from the rough one. "Yeah, that's what I figured. I bet that's why no one ever wants me talking to you. Just look at these two!" Su gestured to us, then threw a glare at Tikal and shook her head. "It's like I'm talkin' to some flower everyone's afraid mi-"

"Enough, Julie."

She jumped a bit and looked passed me, over to Knuckles.

I looked behind myself and saw that Knuckles had come down from meditation and now sat on the floor... He slowly rose to his feet before cracking his eyes open, still the same emerald green as he directed their gaze at her and walked passed me. He came to stand in front of Tikal as he shook his head. "You don't know enough about this girl to insult her. I know you're better than that."

Julie regained her sense as she stood leaned on a hip with a half frown and cocked brow. "Love..."

He took a moment to shake his head. Then, he stepped into her and hugged her close as they closed their eyes and met lips, much to both mine and Amy's surprise... thooough Amy was more thrilled about it with how happy she looked, rocking from side to side as she clasped her hands together.

I was more blushing and wanting to squirm away while I groaned a bit and covered my eyes. "Eugh..." Yup. Still not ready for love.

When they parted lips, they held each other for a while longer, then drifted apart.

Knuckles stood close still as he looked over to a barely paying attention Tikal. "You need to know much more about Tikal. She may just end up mountains different than you think. I speak with the knowledge."

Julie took a moment to look at her with an uncertain and shaken expression. Her attention then returned to Knuckle's face, which haad once again turned to at hers.

He took a sigh through his nose. "Do it for me. Then, tell the others to do the same. The distancing needs to stop."

She took a moment to think before shooting a glare at Tikal... Taking a breath and closing her eyes, she said, "Fine. But I'm no softie. I never am with anyone. So, don't expect any special treatment for her."

He smiled and huffed a laugh. "You? Soft? Hah! That day's possibility burns deep underground."

Tikal took a moment before she would finally find her nerve to smile again, silently thanking Knuckles.

She turned her attention back on Knuckles as she smiled and cocked a brow. "But hey. Hang on. Why are you telling me to do this and not making me like you usually do?"

He took a breath as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms... Then, he said something that made me drop my jaw. "I'm going with Tails and Amy. I'll be counting on the rest of you to fill in for me. I know I said I'd never leave the island even if I wanted to, but I have multiple reasons now that scream to me that I must."

I think everyone just stared at him with dropped jaws at that point... Except for Cindy, who laughed. "Aaah! More than one-hundred percent, Master Tails? I would say not! Ninety-nine point nine-hundred and ninety-nine percent and this is the point zero zero one percent."

I groaned in defeat as Amy chuckled to Cindy's joke.

Knuckles cocked his brow in terrible confusion at the whole thing, not bothering to speak.

The rough and tumble echidna silent shook her head with a smirk. "Well, it's about time, ya stubborn idiot. But If you're thinking that I can make any sorta stand in, I think you might need to think a little harder."

"Oh, I have. Tikal will stand in."

She made an immediate "oh" as her eyes blinked wide. She threw a gaze at the other girl echidna with a cocked brow. "And yer' fine with that, Princess?"

Tikal seemed to grow serious. She nodded with a stern enough look in her eyes. "Of course. I am perhaps just as qualified. After all." She put a hand to her chest. "Chaos is a dear friend of mine. I would forfeit myself again if it meant keeping his home safe."

Julie seemed to test Tikal's honest with her silence, glaring sharply into her eyes.

Tikal didn't even flinch or move, breathing just as calmly, regardless.

... After a long stare down, Su smirked and huffed a laugh. "Live. up. to those words. And Let's not claim you're any equal to MY man. Not until you do some serious proving."

Tikal narrowed her eyes on the other Echidna as if she issued heated acceptance.

Knuckles huffed a laugh under his breath, then walked over to me, slapping me on the back as I erked and jumped! I massaged it with my hand and grumbled before he spoke. "Welp! Let's get this show on the road!"

Amy cleared her throat and folded her arms. Knuckles hummed in confusion as he looked up to see her. She pointed her thumb back at the sky, still dark with the nighttime blanket and stars. "Ya wanna fly with a tired pilot AND a cranky girl? IT'S NIGHT TIME, BONEHEAD."

He made a blink as he looked out at the sky, eyes wide. "... Oh..."

I sighed with relief and gave Amy a smile before thumbing her up.

Knuckles sighed. "Well, that's a bore." He shrugged and looked back down at us. "I guess it gives me time to make sure Tikal can do the job while I'm gone. The guardian's not just sitting there and floating above the ground, even though it looks like that."

Tikal came over to him on that note as he looked to her. "I won't disappoint you, Sir Knuckles."

Our red echidna smiled and nudged his head over at the Master Emerald as the two walked back in front of it and sat down to meditate.

Julie sighed and shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head. "Even with all that meditation, the dummy still remains the same dummy. But..." She smiled and lovingly stared at Knuckles. It was almost peaceful. "It probably something I wouldn't be able to live without. Hard to see my knucklehead as a smarty."

I raised a hand and spoke with the two remaining girls' attention on me. "So uh... Where can we sleep? I'm finally starting to feel my eyes, if that makes sense." Upon saying that, my eyes took on a tiredness as I yawned into my hand.

I looked to Amy as she rested a hand on my shoulder, smiling down at me. "I got that covered~. Julie showed me around the place below this."

Julie nodded and spoke up. "Yeah, and that guy's probably not gonna be letting Tikal sleep for a while. Heh." She pointed to herself as she tossed a look at them over her shoulder. "And I won't be either, cause I ain't leaving Knuckles alone here with Princess. I'm sure if she's serious about this, she won't even feel my eyes on her back." After that, she waved us off. "Go on, you two~."

Amy nodded as she took my hand and lead me away while saying, "Alright, let's get to bed. I'm sure we're both starting to feel the travel, yeah?"

As we walked down the stairs, I nodded...

My eyes trailed down to look at Cindy's tablet.

... The things Knuckles said weren't exactly forgotten. I just didn't want to bring them up. After all, I didn't know what he saw beyond what he said didn't look quite right. And that only implied that she looked Alien... But I still didn't understand why she could talk to Chaos and be seen by Knuckles...

What was going on with her?

"Hmm? Might there be a problem, Master? Have I been malfunctioning without my notice?"

I blinked my eyes wide and quickly shook my head while I walked. "U-uh, No! No. You've been more than perfect as always, Cindy!"

Amy looking at me with a raised brow. She went to open her mouth and speak, but remained silent as Cindy spoke. "... I can hear the nervousness behind your tone... Very well. You may speak to me of whatever this matter may be when you are good and ready."

With a laugh, I scratched my head and cleared my throat. "W-well, okay. But I'm not... really thinking about anything! Seriously!" Bad...

"A bluff, is it? Very well. I shall call your bluff. Let me attempt to deduce your first thought."

My feet stopped as Amy stepped passed me, only to let go of my hand and look at me with a concerned furrow in her brow. I don't know what my face looked like, but I bet it wasn't pleasant.

"Cindy," I blurted at a slightly raised volume. "My only thought right now is taking a nap. Is that clear? I have nothing important enough to talk about."

"... I see... I-... My apologies. I've overstepped in my humor, it seems..."

"It's fine," I replied, then shook my head and stared up at Amy. "No more interruptions, now. We can all get to bed." With my best smile, I bowed. "After the pink princess~!" A bad joke aimed at her family's status.

She chuckled, bunching her cheek a bit, though she still cocked a brow at me. "If you say so, Yellow One~." She walked on as I rolled my eyes at the obvious abridging of Chosen one with my color.

I soon followed, though my smile did not. It faded about half way there as I got to finishing my line of thought...

 _I just need some sleep. It doesn't matter what Knuckles saw. Cindy is Cindy._

I knew that firmly.

* * *

 _ **(Short chapter again, this time. I don't plan to make this a habit, however if I find that a chapter is too long, I WILL make it into parts to make for a shorter read. Chapter 8 already pushes the limits a bit.)**_

 _ **(On another note, I'd love to hear feedback from the readers. It helps me to make sure you are all enjoying this as much as I am. ^^ Thank you for your time. I'll try to get next chapter in soon.)**_


	10. Chapter 10: Honest Wonders

It was no use. As I lay there in the bed I was certain was meant for Tikal, I found myself opening my eyes every time I closed them. They just kept drifting right back open.

Don't get me wrong. I got sleep... but it was maybe two or three hours at best.

I looked around the large bed barrack, taking note of my surroundings in hopes that I might fall asleep from boredom.

The cavernous room was well built, despite being incomplete. The walls were all metal painted an army camo green. Been noticing more of that lately, even though no builder could possibly share the same ideas as us. Regardless, the ceiling was incomplete. It had the templated metal beams both on the ceiling and acting as support, but when it came to actual Ceiling, there was still the rock crust over all of that. The structure was more than stable, but definitely seemed the reason why there were echidna construction tools all over the place.

Looking at the beds, mine included, They were essentially identical in both their metal frameworks, spring mattresses resting atop mattress boxes, but seemed to have a different story for the blankets and sheets. Everyone had a different style that fit them. On my bed, the sheets were plain white and the blanket was actually croche'd to fit the patterns of Tikal's skirt. I was only really laying atop it all, my head back on the pillow and my shoes taken off, resting beside the bed, Cindy placed beside them.

I looked to the door of Knuckles' room, sitting at the far side of the room. Amy had gone in there, being that it was the only open bed otherwise. I hadn't wanted it, since his bed is a king and I don't have a use for that at my size.

With a huff as I tossed to the side of the bed, I shook my head a little. Sitting up at the side, I slipped on my shoes as I made a quick tying job, then picked Cindy up by the sling, resting it around my shoulder as I stood up. Walking out of the room quiet as I could, I made my way to the steps leading back up to the cellar door.

This place had more to it than being a bed chamber, but the other rooms were no further use to me.

Opening the cellar door, I tossed the door open as they clacked to the sides of the cement door frame. I stepped outside into the misty, cool air of late night, looking up at the dark night sky briefly. With the pass of the moment, I moved to the cellar door and gently shut them back closed. Turning away and walking out to the edge of the isle, I sat down and stared out at the sea.

Waves had precious little light to reflect off of their surface with no moonlight in the sky tonight. It was a new moon, meaning that I couldn't even see it. We were so high up, I could hardly hear them crashing into one another. I couldn't hear much more than the breeze.

Taking a moment to breath in the fresh, soothing and cool winds, I then exhaled and closed my eyes for a moment... Blinking them back open, I took a hand and eased Cindy from her sling as she spoke.

"Trouble sleeping, Master Miles?" Cindy's screen turned back on to show the map.

I shrugged my shoulders and thought for a moment. "... I guess. But before we talk, let's try Bunnie again."

"Ah yes. At once." The dish atop the device spun half way around and locked it's position as a dial tone went through.

It almost immediately picked up, but there was no picture other than a still image of Bunnie hugging Antoine, overjoyed while Antoine seemed nervous, but blushed through an honest enough smile. "Tails? That you, sug?"

I nodded. "Yup. So, you wanted to talk?"

"Right down t' business then, huh? Well, alright. S'fair with how I acted..."

I shook my head and frowned. "No. Bunnie? Sorry Amy said that to you. I think it had a lot to do with me. Just give her time. I'm sure that she'll come around to you again." I put on a small smile and continued. "As for me, you KNOW I'm a friend."

"... Y'all are just... I-... Thanks, pard..." Her tone shook a bit. She might have been taking that closer to heart than I thought.

I nodded to myself and crossed my legs while resting Cindy's tablet in my lap. "Any time! Just don't beat yourself up. We all slip from time to time."

"Hah! Ain't that there the truth~. But naw. Ah didn' just call for that all. Ah got somethin' to send over t' Cindy there. Might come in handy. Seems pretty... weird...? Ah'm not good at this science mumbo-jumbo... But aside from that, Ah also got somethin' t' show y'all... It's some logs our people found on both Eggman an' his Grandpappy... A-actually, naw. The stuff on his grandad came from a weird place."

I cocked a brow at all this, but especially so at the stuff about Gerald Robotnik. "Gerald Robotnik? ... And what's the source?" I almost leaned in over the screen.

"It's uh... it came from Rouge. That bat gal that's got some'in' to do with Shadow?"

I felt a weird mixed feeling in the pit of my stomach as she mentioned Shadow... much less Rouge. I hummed as I took the tablet in my hands again, a stern look on my face. "I see... Send them over right away."

"... Gotcha. Anything t' report, by the by?"

I thought for a moment as I laid back in the grass, tablet held over my face. "Well, right now, we're on-..." i thought for a moment, then corrected myself. "Okay. We are and are NOT on Angel Island. We're more on Shrine Isle, which no longer shares the same location transported here by some sort of space time portal Knuckles placed in the mountains. Complicated, don't ask." I pointed at the screen as if she could see with a smirk. "got the ultimate knucklehead to join us, though~."

I heard a whistle come from the tablet before she responded. "Well shoot. That sounds like the trip, sug. Ah don' think Ah can rightly say Ah understood ya 'bout that portal stuff, but KNUCKLES, eh? Whut, y'all bribe ém?"

"Nope." I cocked my brow as my hand took hold of the tablet again. "He kinda just... agreed when I told him a few things. You don't need to know the specifics, but it worked. Still can't really believe it." My eyes laxed as I rested the tablet to my chest, staring up at the stars. "... When I really think about it, this is almost a complete team of the best fighters. If we'd have taken it a step further and roped Sally into this crazy train, we might have a full party. Two members would have to be on the wings, though. Still wondering if Knuckles will really be okay on the wings, though. The tornado is faster than it used to be."

"Pff! That guy can handle bein' uh wing-man. Too stubborn t' fall off. Just watch me be right."

With a sigh, I smirked. "Yeah, I'm not gonna doubt it. The wing will fall off before he does. He could always stay on the tail, too."

"Hah! Yeah... ... ... So, Tails. Gotta ask myself... Whatcha gonna do... iffin' y'all ... ... ... come up... empty-handed?"

My eyes closed for a moment as whatever smile was on my face before was replaced by blankened lips... "You don't have to tip toe. I know it's possible... Very possible..."

"... A-ah..."

"I can't remember the last time Sonic's disappearance hasn't left me lying awake at night or waking up prematurely. I'm so used to half nights of sleep that I made it into a part of the schedule... Heck, one of those times resulted in me totally overhauling the Tornado and making it how it is today. That took me five nights to do. Five whole nights without proper sleep... And now, it has an ugly form I don't ever want to use..."

I felt pure shame, a frown growing on my face as I placed a hand over it. "... I regret giving it that every day, because... the whole reason I did it was because I wanted to move on... I just ended up making it hurt worse, because afterwards I started to realize I KILLED the plane me and Sonic loved..."

I took a breath and sighed, placing my hand over Cindy's screen. "So yeah... It's gonna hurt. It'll be worse than that and burying nothing, because that will be certainty... It's not what I want, but I have to deal with that if it ends up being the truth..." I shook my head and closed my eyes. "And that's the last time I'm going to say it... I hate revisiting this feeling every time someone thinks I couldn't handle that possibility. I didn't decide to go on this journey to be told that again and again."

"... A'right... Is it fine if Ah help mahself t' tellin' Sally what yer' doin'? She came by yesterday, which'd be why Ah missed yer' call."

I blinked out of my funk and nodded as I affirmed with words. "Yeah. Just be prepared. I haven't talked with her in a month. I don't know how she'll react to you dropping Soni-"

"Tails~!"

I gasped at the sound of Amy's voice and jolted up into a sit! I looked around and spotted her off a small distance from me!

"Pardner? Hey, y'all oka-"

I leaned into the screen and whispered. "I have to cut transmission. Out. Cindy?"

Cindy didn't speak a word, ending thew call just as Bunnie started to object. Too late. The screen changed over to the map again. Just in time, too.

Amy came walking up to my side, crouching down and cocking a brow at me, even as she smiled. "Can't sleep?"

I turned to her with a nervousness in my smile. "U-uh... Well, yeah. Too much to think about, I guess."

"As brilliant a mind as my master is, it appears he knows not a proper bedtime~." My head sank a bit with that, a dull expression on my face.

Amy just giggled and sat down next to me, crossing her legs while she held her upper boots. "It's fine! I'm the same way, tonight. I've got more ideas swimmin' around in my head than I know what to do with."

"A-ah," was the first thing that came out of my mouth. I grinned a bit. "Well, you got me here if ya wanna share them."

She smiled down at me and giggled a little. Letting her eyes trail from me, she responded. "Well... I know it'll be great to have Knuckles with us. It'll definitely be a party. What kind really isn't clear, though."

My first thought? To chuckle and lay out on the grass, just thinking about all of the crazy stuff that was bound to happen. As a team, We were brains, brawn and more brawn. "It's definitely gonna be interesting. Knuckles is sorta... No, VERY unpredictable. You can tell what a smart person will do, if you just pay attention, but Knuckles is borderline impulse. He kinda does the first thing that pops up in his head."

Laying down next to me, the pink hedgehog rolled her eyes and grinned at that. "You got that one nailed~." Relaxing her grin into a smile, she went on. "Honestly, I myself don't think he has a thought process. He just sorta does whatever he feels like."

"No kidding."

"The two of you do not seem to give your friend enough credit." We both looked at Cindy with surprised expressions. "Might I remind you both that the one who seems to have saved the Entrapped is ultimately the one you are poking fun at?"

"Huh..." The pink hedgehog cocked her brow as she stared up into the sky. "Yeah, come to think of it... How DID he do all of this?"

The same thought on my own mind. I shrugged my shoulders and furrowed my brows. "Ya know? That's the question I just couldn't figure out the answer to. I'm gonna have to ask him when we get going. Probably something to do with Chaos Control, though. That power has way too many uses."

"Hah, yeah~!" She took a moment to just lay there and look on at the sky... before her smile vanished. That much I saw while I was turning to look at her, blinking. She opened her mouth to speak, hesitating... "So... Tough bit to swallow, that whole use too much power and lose your powers thing... huh...?"

I just stared at her, lost for a while before my eyes tightened to the realization. Dropping my gaze to the grass beneath my head with a grimace. "... It does bother you, then. What T'symel said..."

"... It sorta both does and doesn't."

And to that, all I could do was lift my head and stare at her with a raised brow.

She closed her eyes. "I still have no idea what the limit to the power is. For all I know, I'm not capable of hitting it or I've been tipping it without ever realizing it... It bothers me, but it also tells me something else..."

My concern turned to curiosity as I blinked into a stare,, tilting my head. "Y-yeah? What's that?

"T'symel said that if I go too far beyond the power, anything it gave me before storing itself in my body would be taken away... That basically means that I can choose to give up this body for my youth or keep it..."

I understood it right then. It was that whole "grew up too fast" thing again. I glared at her and shook my head as I sat up on my side. "Are you forgetting the last part? He ALSO warned you that trying to do that would be painful."

She sat up and glared right back. "Hey, all I'm saying is that I might be okay with it. What's the problem with that?"

I opened my mouth to argue back, but stopped... Closing it back, I just shook my head. "Look. Just don't try to make it happen. We have no idea how much pain we're talking about here. Not only that, but you wouldn't just turn back into your younger self. You'd lose ALL of your power. Not just this body."

She nodded and sighed, her glare dissolving into a frown... "If you woulda just heard me out, that's the part I don't want to happen. I don't want to go back to being totally useless. Okay?"

I frowned and nodded. "I get it. I really do. Remember who you're talking to, here."

She scoffed a bit at that and shook her head with a smirk. "Who? The chosen one or the genius fox boy?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily through a groan, flopping back in the grass. "You know what I mean. The whole 'I'm not as strong as everyone else' thing?"

She chuckled into her hand a bit. "I'm just messing with ya~."

"Mh..."

I looked down at Cindy with a cocked brow. "Huh? Did you say something?"

"... It is nothing. I merely felt that I could have been speaking more. Perhaps I have taken a liking to simply sitting in silence and listening to the two of you speak."

I blinked, not entirely sure I liked that answer, especially with the pause. I figured that was just her way of saying "I'm not at liberty to speak in this company." Shrugging in spite of this, I smiled and stated, "if you say so."

Amy and I continued to speak for a while longer. Eventually, we both fell asleep out on the edge of the isle, but I'm pretty sure I did first...

When I next awakened, I could see the lit morning sky blinding me overhead... not to mention Knuckles, Tikal and near every other guardian there looking down on us with amusement in varying degrees.

Murring awake with my hand blocking as much sunlight as it could hope to, I realized as much. Then, I gasped totally awake and sat up with wide eyes scanning the faces around me. "Wha-ha- I'm awake!"

They all erupted into laughter around us while Amy was coming to, leaning up with her hand to her head. "Muh...?"

After that welcome back to the real world, Amy, Knuckles and I said our goodbyes and started to climb the stairs of light leading back to the caveway. We tossed a look back as we watched every echidna's smiling face and waving arm wish us luck. We wouldn't be coming back here until we found what we were looking for.

Knowing this, Knuckles turned totally to face them and bowed for a moment...

In that moment, I realized something. Knuckles really WAS different. He seemed... more matured and respectful. I don't know how I missed it...

Either way, walking back into the cave way rift, we took our first steps back on Angel Island.

I looked back to Knuckles when we were far enough through the dark cave. "So uhm... Knuckles?"

He nudged his head up in acknowledgement.

"It's been bugging me and I'm sure the same can be said for Amy, so I'll just ask. How did you free all of the Entrapped echidna from the Emeralds?"

With a huffed laugh, he closed his eyes. "That's kinda complicated." He smiled either way and held out his hand... eventually, as it twitch, a flame created from raw green chaos energy ignited and burned in his palm. He brought it in front of his face as he spoke, the light both lighting the cave and his face's features. "See, in honesty, I didn't really know any of them were within the Emeralds. I gathered each and every one of them together with the help of my fellow guardians and brought them back to the shrine where I plan to keep them from the world for as long as I can. Upon gathering them all, nothing happened at first, aside from the unification of powers with the Master Emerald."

He intensified the flame as it grew larger and licked the air with it's long, flaming tongues. "But then, when I fell asleep at my guard post in front of the Master Emerald, I suddenly found myself in their very own Zone. I myself had been caught up by the power..."

We both stopped dead in our tracks and turned to look at our echidna friend with shock. ... I spoke as I stepped over to him. "But then... how did you and they get out...?"

He went on. "Chaos, Tikal and myself. We were the three keys. All of our chaos power was powerful enough in the rawest form to break away from our confinement. Though, I had to push myself passed my limits to make that true." He clenched the body of the flame in his hand as the fire was snuffed and smoked out at it's source, dead embers sparking out and vanishing... He smirked. "When I did that, we made a portal out and all emerged from our emerald prisons, safe and free." He huffed another laugh and waves his hand back, furrowing his brows ever so slightly. "Basically a total accident that I even ended up there, but I'm more than grateful for it. There are now significantly more echidna in the world."

I hummed in intrigue, crossing my arms at the word choice. "More echidna in the world..." I then gasped, snapping my fingers and dropping my arms. "Hey, hold on- that's right!"

Amy seemed to grow as lost as Knuckles, both raising their brows at me. She spoke and asked, "Uhh... What's right? Am I missing something, Tails?"

I shook my head and ignored her, waving her off as I asked Knuckles, "So, another question. Do you know any echidna by the name of Klive? Amy fought a new team in the freedom fighters that had the same guy. He was all talk, but still echidna all the same."

She thought for a minute and shook his head. "No, but- Wait..." He thought harder and groaned, scratching the top of his head. "Well, hang on. I... think that I met someone by that name in old Albion long ago... but that place's echidna were more or less wiped out." He pointed at nothing in particular as he looked up with a squint. "Maybe the guy came from there? There could have been echidna that survived the annihilation if he just wasn't there. That's only a guess, though."

... I was sure of it, now. Nodding my head, I folded my arms and looked at the ground in thought. "You definitely met him. The guy knew your general fighting stance, even if he never really got to throw any real punches. He HAD to have seen you fight, I think. That or maybe he's idolized you."

With a fully furrowed brow, the echidna groaned a bit and tilted his head. "I guess that could be? Just don't really see myself as the idol to anyone..."

I just shrugged and smiled. "I'd think you would be flattered, but at least we know why he could know your moves AND why I felt like he was familiar, somehow."

We all got back to walking the length of the cave, but Amy seemed to hold her chin, wondering aloud. "I wonder how Cream and Vanilla are doing? I sent that guy there way because he was actually the only one that seemed half way decent."

She dropped her hand back to her side as she huffed through a nervous frown. "Hopefully, me taking him back there to help was a good call."

Good question, Amy. I looked down at Cindy's tablet. She was being silent again... I silently wondered if this had something to do with those logs Bunnie sent...

* * *

 _ **(Update 9/16: So... I had the next chronological chapter FINALLY done and fully edited out just mere moments ago... Care to guess what happened? ... I have a very finicky laptop mouse, see? I had been meaning to save for a while there. Instead, what I did was waited until I was done with correcting unimportant spelling errors that could have waited five seconds... I went ahead and corrected most of them anyways because I am a perfectionistic twat. And for that, when I finally DID go to save, I lost track of where exactly my mouse's cursor was... So I accidentally put two fingers on the pad and that made my mouse wig out right over some other button or link, so! Instead of saving an extra 700 words that I don't fully remember, I effectively deleted my progress. I tried to back button back into the document, but no. Fanfiction doesn't cache documents that have not been saved. I had to resubmit the form data to get back on that page and no. That doesn't bring your progress back. That refreshes your page. And you lose all of that precious and golden progress... I hate my fingers, my memory and that I have done this before. ON THE SAME CHAPTER.**_

 _ **...So yeah. What could have been out tomorrow morning after a quick proofread is now gonna take a bit longer. I am so sorry... Honestly, that really cut deep into my drive to write. I feel so friggin terrible for losing that... I can rewrite it. It's just a trudge, as many of you know. Anyway, stay tuned. It shouldn't be another two month wait. It just really sucked that it happened. Again.)**_


	11. Chapter 11: The Robotnik Men

Upon getting back to the echidna settlement, Myself, Amy and Knuckles said our goodbyes to T'symel and took off into the sky on the Tornado, Knuckles taking up a seat on the tail. Turns out that Knuckles already had a way to stay on the plane, even at high speeds.

I don't understand the specifics, but he was merely sitting there. My guess is that he could keep himself on by using his chaos powers to tether to the plane.

He even said that we didn't need to have Cindy extend the cockpit. A weird decision, since we wouldn't be able to talk til' we landed again, but again, he didn't seem worried.

So, here me and Amy were in the cockpit seats, Amy constantly staring back at Knuckles to make sure he wasn't flying off. I even did the same, looking back to see the lake growing further and further away, but Knuckles never budging an inch. His dreadlocks were the only things the wind affected, making them flap around wildly.

I furrowed my brows and smiled, even if I shook my head. "When we were saying he was too hardheaded to fall off, I didn't mean that literally."

Amy turned to me and shrugged with the same look on her face as me. "It's Knuckles, Tails. Are you really all that surprised about this?"

The shake of my head told her no. Then, I turned around and shrugged, focusing on getting us to where we needed to go. "So, we have full power. If everything goes well, our next pit-stop will be Walrus Island."

"And from that point, there will be a mere 800 miles left for traversal, Master. Once there, I will be able to pinpoint Sonic's exact location, no matter where he may be." She paused for a moment, then went on to admit something. "I confess that it should have been clear without the need for any form of travel. There are satellites and microbots surrounding the entirety of Mobius... This has been troubling me. If it is indeed because Sonic is not of this planet any longer, then it would explain the need to relocate to a specified place."

"Interesting idea there." Knuckle's voice was suddenly all around us, much to each of our yelping surprises! Amy and I looked back to make sure Knuckles was still outside on the tail. He hadn't moved at all. His voice came again, much to my wide eyed wondering. "Oh, right. I should probably explain. I'm using your chaos energies to talk with you."

Cindy was the one caught off guard as she spoke. "Pardon my questioning of your logic, Sir Knuckles. I... do not believe I could possibly contain such a thing. I am not truly a "living" thing."

"Hah! Sorry, Ticker. I hate to break it to ya, but it looks like you don't need to be. You definitely hold Chaos."

"Wait, hold on," I said, looking at Cindy's tablet. "Cindy has chaos?" I cocked a brow and thought for a moment before shaking my head. "That doesn't seem possible."

"... Tails, remember what I told you back in our zone. Cindy is strange for something that should be a computer. It may just be that she... evolved into something that could well be life. Has an A.I. ever been as advanced as Cindy? I'm not sure I know anything about this sort of stuff, but-"

"No, you're right." I just stared at Cindy with an uncertain, scrutinizing look on my face, then shook my head and focused on the sky... before remembering that I still hadn't read the logs Bunnie sent us. "Well, anyway... Cindy, you mind pulling up the logs on Eggman?"

She seemed to gasp.

Amy cocked her brow and tilted her head before leaned in on the back of my seat to look at me. "Logs on Eggman? When did you get something like that?"

I shrugged. "I got sent them from Freedom HQ. Apparently, they only found them about a day or two ago, right after we left. What timing, right?"

The hedgehog squinted her eyes in on me, sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms. "What timing indeed..."

"Come on, Amy," I reasoned as I tossed a look back at her. "Do you really think they'd keep something about Eggman from two of the fighters that had the most to do with him? We directly fought him more than anyone."

She seemed to boredly stare into me. "Bunnie would..."

I took on a slight glare, just staring at her for a bit. Shaking my head, I told Cindy, "Stop. Close the files, Cindy. Instead, just take control of the plane." I let go of the stick as Cindy locked it in place herself. Then, turning around to face Amy, I stared into her, much to her confusion. "Amy, Stop it." She tried to cut in with a questioning "what" but I cut her off. "You and Bunnie. That thing that happened the day before we left? You've gotta let that go."

She glared at me with disbelief. "Let it go?! Tails, first she treats me and you like just two other fighters and now it suddenly comes up that Freedom found something on Eggman? JUST before we left?"

"She treated YOU like that, Amy," I shouted, making her flinch back and frown, holding an arm. I shook my head again and looked off from her. "So, lets humor that maybe she could have kept this from us and MAYBE she's not the same as before. Not unbelievable, but lets wait on the why. What about us? I'm different and so are you. Some changes, though? Some of them are for worse. I developed a few social issues. You started taking things you shouldn't to heart. Like that slip in words Bunnie had. You SAW how messed up what you said made her. And STILL you keep going with this?" I threw myself back in my seat, crossing my arms. "Bunnie may have messed up, but so have you. She's already depressed enough. The guy she loves is in a coma, something terrible happened to her in the desert she can't even talk about and now she's probably even worse off with the words you gave her stirring around in her head."

I think it was starting to sink in, because Amy didn't have anything to say about that. She sat there with wide eyes and a growing frown on her face. When her eyes furrowed, she bowed her head and rested her face in her hands. "O-oh my god... I didn't think-... Oh no..."

"Tails," Knuckles cut in. I looked back to him as I realized his eyes were open. He shook his head with a neutral expression. He then used that weird chaos mind trick to speak. "I don't know what happened aside from what I just heard, but we shouldn't be focusing on these types of things. We're on a mission, aren't we? Fighting with each other is dangerous. From what you told me before we left, the bots Eggman created aren't gone. They can attack at any time and the way we are now isn't good."

With a grunt of irritation, my shoulders shrugged and I took back control of the plane, eyes forward. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I just don't want to have this sort of thing sticking..."

After a moment of silence, Amy sniffled and brought her hands off of her face, wiping her tears away. "It's... It's okay, Knuckles. I'm not mad." She sat there with her hands in her lap, eyes burrowing into the back of my seat. "I can't treat friends like that and expect I'm gonna have nothing thrown back at me."

I nodded and sighed, relaxing as I let it go. "Good. I'm happy."

"Still, I should apologize to Bunnie when we get back."

Knuckles closed his eyes again and "spoke" in turn. "Well... If that's settled, you really need to tell us what the stuff you got on the Eggmen is."

"Honestly," I started and nodded to Cindy as she sifted through her menus and pulled out the log files. "I can't really say that I know what this all is. I just know that it was important enough for Bunnie to run all the way to my workshop, hoping to catch us before we left. Obviously, that didn't happen. This is as new to me as it will be for the both of you." Gesturing to her, I told Cindy, "Go ahead and read them, if you don't mind, Cindy."

"Always a pleasure, though I should warn you. They are somewhat lengthy. They also imply some very troubling possibilities..."

I shook my head. "All the more reason to know what the Robotnik men were up to."

"... Very well, Master." And so the screen turned black as it transitioned over to a word file reader...

Journal of A Genius - Ivo Robotic

Date: April 27th, 3225

This marks the very first day of a new world order. I've robotized all of the nitwits of our "illustrious" council, including our "king".

What a fool. Even as he knew of my suspicious activity, he believed I wasn't a threat enough to be humored. If only he knew what true horrors I would visit his beloved people. I suppose this is what becomes of those who are born and raised in comforts.

Still, he was smart enough to send away his brat progeny. Smart... Well, to be fair, he could have used that time more wisely. Save himself. Save one more worth while. A little girl can neither fight against me nor inspire. Truly such a shame. But then, who am I to complain. His poor life choices were what made this all too easy.

I will eventually capture his little one before any hope he has can come true, either way.

Snively has proven... adequately useful, but he believes the undertone he gives me is secretive. I know one day he will betray me. For now, however, the coward is too afraid of me to even so much as act upon his... admirable hate.

Such a waste. If he had a spine, perhaps I would acknowledge him as a threat. He is a nothing that does what I say, however much he may throw his adorable temper tantrums. Ultimately, he will be of moderate use to me. The time that shall remain a fact... is to be seen. When he stops amusing me, he can join the rest of this kingdom's dolls.

I must give Charles credit. He built a magnificent machine. If only he had chosen his side more wisely. What am I to expect of a filthy animal? In light of that, perhaps this credit is un-do.

A remarkable failure of genetics, these little Mobians. Disgustingly designed, terribly dull and more than a little useless without their metal bodies. I do so wonder what the gods were playing at when they created this otherwise worthless species, much like true animals are useless, aside from holding the privilege of being food.

... It is so good to be king. The entire world shall be made my kingdom. My fellow human beings will rue the day I found my freedom. They shall mark it with the memories of robots storming their houses and smoke covering the sky. Of millions upon millions of these animals made robots coming for them in the night. Of true horrors that escaped nightmares becoming more than merely after-lingering!

Such a glorious day is no more than a few years away. However, I will not rely on this roboticizer alone. My robots are still yet capable of much. And besides, a genius should never rely on another's work to win him recognition.

... I believe that is quite enough for now. It is time to rule with this iron fist of mine.

Glory to a new world order. MY world order.

Date: February 2, 3234

It appears I have mice, now.

The children yet live on to fight their pathetic parents' battle for this. The thought is amusing... and yet oh so irritating.

One in specific has become quite the rodent: a hedgehog in possession of impossible speed all his own. No augmentation, no mutations... The existence of this creature is maddening! An affront to nature and science alike!

He is not deserving of such gifts.

... Still, I believe I can make something even greater than my speedy little pest. With enough data and the right body, it will be all too easy. If he truly means to challenge me with raw speed and agility, I will answer in kind.

A year is all I shall need. Until then, I will toy with him and make him believe himself a hero. I shall allow him to believe in hope... only to WRENCH IT AWAY WHEN I SO DESIRE.

This will be utterly amusing. Keep me entertained, Sonic. I do so love a doomed hero.

Date: $#p!$# 30th, 3235

The robot is finished. I had dubbed it Metal Sonic. Statistics all exceed the original hedgehog by a significant margin. The "Freedom Fighters" do not suspect the reason for Sonic's day long absence was due to my own interference.

None the wiser. It must have been a SPECIAL day. I believe I will call it Robotnik Day!

Regardless, I am now in possession of all of Sonic's downloaded memories. A copy of the original's they may be, however they are indistinguishable. Still... I wonder if I should even implicate them. They may create a robot with a will all it's own... Hmm...

I believe what I will do is hold these in reserve for now. If I find an amusing way to use them in the near future, they shall come in handy.

... Hmm... I have written so many of these journals that I must wonder if any shall ever get a chance to read them. I admit it is mostly pandering to myself in my own enjoyment for recollecting memory. However, I do wonder if they are necessary...

I shall end early for today. Though... if one does read these in the future, I hope they take from my example.

Date: Ma/ }&, 3&35

/^& been going... 1ndes!#ably.

The hedgehog is still out /here, foiling my attempts, but he can't keep this going forever. A mere child could never best a fully fledged genius of my high caliber.

They may have defeated the robot, but I never staked my hopes upon a singular thing. There were contingencies in place. One oh so amusing. I tingle just thinking about it every time.

Poor, little vermin. Ever WERE you to win, it is all hollow. It only proves my genius. You shall be led to the future on my cape tail, even if you never realize why. Hm hm... Let's keep that reason close to heart.

If I cannot succeed in conquering the world, I shall at least have the last laugh.

Still... I was indeed quite foolish in handing my enemy my own undoing. Perhaps I am little more than a fool myself... A genius does not compromise himself merely to have a laugh as I do...

... ... ... I have been a fool... There is no amusement to be had in this. I shall meet my end for my own purposeless, intended mistake. Perhaps I should have been a jester. I'm sure my audiencewouldlaughatajokeLIKE

I HAVE ALLOWED MY OWN FOOLISH AMUSEMENT TO THROW ME TO THE ENDRTNECD YNRCYRXSNZTX VGCFH JGFHCJ GC JVHKJH VGBK ,VMF XBNGSF 56C CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

... ... ...

... No. I will outdo myself... I must...

... ... ... Gerald... How you must laugh in your grave...

Cindy had read it all in a surprisingly accurate Robotnik voice. She'd even read what was definitely the broken clutter meant to be dates and sensible words. Silence had come over us all, none of us- not even myself- understanding the implications this... MADMAN had been making with the last journals. I shook my head and tried to think clearly after the garbled mess of the last journal.

When I got my sense back, I cocked my brow and tilted my head to the side. "What does any of that even mean...? I don't get this at all..." Lucky for me, I had accidentally engaged autopilot, because I was NOT paying attention to the flight path. I was free to take my hands from the stick and massage my forehead all I wanted.

Amy was even more confused, not able to come up with anything to say to any of that. She just stared at the back of the seat, scratching her head with a troubled expression.

Knuckles had once again opened his eyes and come to lean himself in his own lap. "Well, we all knew that Robotnik lost his mind. Can we agree on that?"

I nodded... but I was still very troubled by the implications of that statement. "But what did he mean by, "I will still get the last laugh?" That says that he did something." I looked up and took hold of the stick, disengaging the autopilot. "And what day was it that he got a hold of Sonic? He never told me about ever getting captured... He came back late a few times while out on runs or missions, but he always acted like he'd just been out for a while..."

"It may be that Robotnik erased a small portion of Master Sonic's memory and replaced it with a new one. This is within possibility if Eggman was also somehow able to obtain his memories, correct?"

I had to admit that this sounded possible. I nodded my head and glared ahead while thinking about that lunatic. "Yeah... That's definitely possible. Eggman or Robotnik- He was just that smart... even if he was insane."

"Well, it appears he was not smart enough and less intelligent still than his predecessor: Gerald Robitnik."

I looked back down at Cindy with a cocked brow. "I can understand the first part, but why the last?"

"... We won't get anywhere picking for information we yet have, correct? Perhaps this is the best time to move on to the files belonging to Gerald."

I paused for a moment more of consideration, but ultimately nodded and sighed. "Guess so. Imagining what it might mean may bring me to a conclusion I don't want, otherwise."

Amy leaned in atop my seat and stared at Cindy with a curious look on her face. "So, any reason why someone like Rouge would give us something like this? She's a jewel thief. Why would she have that?"

"Ah, but my fair lady, You forget that our jewel aficionado is also a not-so-secret agent of the not-too-secret organization of G.U.N. Guardian Units of The Nation. She has everything to do with knowing who this gentleman is and why his existence is a closely guarded secret."

Amy seemed to blink her eyes wide an "oh", recalling the fact. Smacking herself in the face, she shook her head. "Duh. What was I thinking? I was there for most of that whole episode..."

"Reason stands to suggest that you blocked the memory out. If Master Tails's recollection of the event is correct by any stretch, that near disaster should be well within the threshold of infamy."

The pink hedgehog nodded and scratched her head with an uncertain look. "Guess so."

"Might I turn on the audio logs?"

I nodded and perked my ears to listen while I piloted the plane. "If you'd please."

"A pleasure!"

We all listened, even Knuckles... which was still comical for his current position on the outside of the plane.

The playback begun and the audio was scratchy, but very understandable.

"... Mmmh... Everything seems to be in order. The date is ... the fifteenth of November. I've been told to classify the year, so-"

"Hehaha!" A little girl's tiny voice.

"A-ah! Maria, dear- please do-"

The audio cut out for a few seconds... Then came back.

"-so from now on, please. Do be careful of the equipment. I may not get many replacements. This is a secretive facility. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Grandfather... Sorry..."

"It's okay. Now, go find Colin~. I'm sure he could always use a smile from you, my dear." I nearly asked who Colin was, but remembered the often forgotten brother of Ivo Robotnik. Colin Kintobor.

"Okay~!" The little pitter-patter of a child's feet... It had to be a very young Maria.

"... Right. Back to the log. I suppose I should name the subjects of my research. First and foremost, Project Vitality. I will be researching the cure for NIDS- err... That is Neuro-Immuno deficiency Syndrome- the disease my daughter... was.. killed by... and the disease her own daughter may also have. This disease spreads through specific means, yet is only contagious with the right person. Usually, the immune system must already be weakened. Reception at that point must be a prolonged experience lasting throughout the year. It can remain dormant for the subject's entire life, even still. The disease causes a gradual shut-down of the immune system directly through the neurons of the brain. As the immune system weakens naturally, so too does the infected party. The disease itself does not kill, that being said. It simply acts as a middle-man for the host and any other disease- or perhaps as an arms dealer, being that it turns any disease into a supercharged version of itself."

"... I hate the very thought, but... Maria will be considered the control group, if she truly does show signs. The only other possible candidate otherwise would be myself, though I have shown no signs. As a result, this subject is tabled until research can be done. As for finding other subjects, that is impossible, given our current location and situation..."

"My second subject of research is dubbed Project U.L.F. This project is an aimed attempt to create the ultimate form of life via cross-species gene splicing, low-level cybernetic enhancement and breeding. Note that this project is by no means a method to create a being of power. Merely a being that could one day become a sort of higher evolution. Illness, frailty and possibly even limited lifespans. These are the things we aim to conquer in this project. The inspiration for it all comes from echidnas whom have surpassed their limitations via cybernetic enhancement and constant exposure to a power they have dubbed Chaos. Depending on certain factors, I may employ testing within Chaos exposure as well. I am not at liberty to disclose the means in which that will be possible for multiple reasons."

"Last but not least, there is the project dedicated to creating the ultimate offensive and defensive weapon via purely mechanical means alone. Project Aegis."

I let my eyes drift down to Cindy's screen at that point, a brow cocked as I continued to listen, mutter in a whisper. "Ultimate mechanical weapon...? All of these projects..."

The professor's voice carried on over my own. "As expected, this last venture may have startled any whom may listen to this or any other recordings I make. It is as it sounds. A truly powerful weapon unsurpassed in both might and guarding capabilities. Yet, it is a weapon that shall function purely for our protection. If this cannot be assured, the project will be scrapped. I do not believe in the use of such powers as an army's kill-switch. My colleagues do not share this belief beyond may-hap a few... Regardless, I am the facility's head. I won't allow such a thing."

"I don't expect the prospect of protection through power to be understood. I'm well aware of the possible implications. Still, it is my hope that you shall all come to see that this was necessary... I love my world. My daughter was the joy of my life and that lives on through her daughter and son. I will strive to make their future as safe and bright as I possibly can... No matter the cost to myself personally." The recording abruptly fuzzed up and cut out.

I couldn't help the troubled frown on my face. "... Project Vitality, Project U.L.F., even Project Aegis... I known U.L.F. could be what led up to Project Shadow, but none of these names are familiar."

"Still," Amy started as I put the plain in auto and turned around. She was smiling a little, even if her brows were furrowed. "The first and third ones sound nice. Like they could have done some real good." So even she isn't naive to the nature of what we heard.

My head nodded and my mouth sighed, then my eyes closed as I sat there with folded arms in my chair. "Yeah. Could have."

"There is more regarding that, of course. Shall I play it, Master Tails?"

I nodded and retook controls. "Yeah. Keep going. We're in this far, we might as well finish."

"Understood. Starting play-back."

The scratchy audio was back. It lasted in silence for roughly twenty seconds, almost making us believe it was a blank recording as we stared at Cindy with confused expressions. We all near jumped when Gerald cleared his throat. "This is for the record relating to Project Aegis."

"As it stands, the weapon can go no farther... but the power behind it is staggering. Were it only possible to use the weapon to it's potential limits, this would have become the protector we all yearned for... It is a form of android- something of a pipe-dream for us scientists of the past. If, by chance, a scientific mind is listening to this recording, keep listening."

"This body is a flawless design made with supremacy over all other land/air based combatants in mind."

"Titanium comprises every plate of it's outer-shell. The heavy weight of this armor, upon first thought, seemed a hindrance, however the fully realized capabilities of it's body allows it to effortlessly carry itself as if plated with aluminum. With a body fully anatomic of a mixture of human, mobian and true animal shapes, it could also be considered an evolutionary pinnacle, if only it were flesh and blood."

"A modest exterior belies it's truly monstrous potential. It's sleek body is of moderately ordinary build. The head unit has a mouth with fully articulated lips, tongue and teeth, though it needs no nourishment. It most resembles a feline's muzzle, complete with the nose. We originally intended a canine's muzzle, but the appearance was jarring. As one of the few areas on it's body which is not totally covered by titanium for melding and bending purposes, the mouth area is made of a rubber meant to appear as though it were pale skin."

"Unlike any normal creature, it has no eyes, instead possessing smoothed titanium in the area. This is not to suggest it is blind. Rather that it will instead see through sensors all over it's body to minimize the chance of blindness ever occurring."

"On it's head are bat ear shaped audio receptors with the inner "ears" appearing to be designed like that of flat speakers. These are ironically the opposite. They are receivers."

"A slender, yet incredibly durable, neck holds everything to the body. As there is no true need to turn only the neck, mobility has been reduced for added protection, making it virtually impossible to break using normal methods."

"It's body is technically genderless, though may be more suited to be a girl's, being that it is shaped to be deceptively youthful."

"It possesses a detachable fox-like tail, though it could be mistaken for a reptilian design, being that it too is coated by rubber and therefore shines. This tail holds a multitude of uses. As it is quite heavy, it can be used to bash. Through a hole in the tip, it can fire super-heated projectiles by expanding the hole, charging a shot and firing at great velocity. This shot is capable of devastating damage to any metal substance as well as fatal damage to a flesh and blood creature."

"It's arms are powerful humanoid types of the same ilk. For example, a hand's grip can crush bone with little effort applied. At maximum effort, similar metals to the ones it's comprised of can be crushed. As such, a fist thrown can easily cause major damage."

"For the maximum performance of both it's running speed and boosters along with the power behind them, the legs were made with a yet more complex muscular system not dissimilar to humans and animals. A full power kick can smash through a tree's trunk with ease and possibly even bust through a steel reinforced concrete wall a foot or more thick. We've tested it on an egyptian palace's pillar and the entire pillar was snapped alarmingly easy."

"The booster thrusters are visible at the lower back of either calf, though they are of scramjet design The paws are large for surface area and stability. This does indeed mean that they are less mobian/humanoid, appearing as an animal's would and without a true heel."

"As it possesses such a versatile form, it is capable of many different weapon combinations and an unlimited assortment of fighting styles. The potential for destruction is incalculable."

"... Sadly, this potential will never be reached without the proper program. An A.I. of significant advancement is necessary: one that does not exist at this time..."

"It will be decades before technology reaches this point. Even with the combined genius of myself and my colleagues, creating an advanced enough A. I. is not possible..."

"The file attached to this recording carries the project blueprints. The original body shall be disposed of... As a result, Project Aegis is hereby terminated... at least until a future generation can complete it." The same cut out static.

And then, suddenly, Cindy's screen flipped out, producing static for a solid second! "A-ah!"

I jolted forward in panic with a gasp as my hand touched Cindy's screen. "Shoot! Cindy?! Did that file have a virus?!"

"... Mmh... Ease yourself, Master... I'm fine. The recording auto-uploaded the file it was concealing. I assume much the same happened at Freedom HQ and perhaps G.U.N.'s own head of operations ..."

"O-oh..." I just stared at Cindy for a moment, then gave a heavy sigh as I leaned back in my chair and wiped my forehead of sweat. "O-okay then, but wait." Relaxing, cocked a brow and eyed her screen. "Was the file the very same one?"

"... ... ... My word... This design is... genius! I dare say this is the greatest marvel of mechanical and technological design I've..." She paused... "I apologize..."

I cocked my brow and tilted my head. "Pardon me? Why? You didn't do anything."

"I praised another genius's work and placed it above my creator's. I-is that not the pinnacle of offense?"

I sat back in my seat and rolled my eyes with a smile. "Is it? Because honestly, I know I don't feel a thing." Resting my eyes on her screen as I watched a wide-eyed emoticon form, I let out a single laugh. "I'm not the best of the best by a long shot, even if I might be the smartest person ever. MIGHT. I've gotten so many things wrong even with this smart head of mine and... well... I have a lot of growing up to do before I can ever try and top the large scale inventors of the past and present. After all, I'm just a little kid. My workshop isn't even that big or high-tech. It's more of a shack really." Furrowing my brows with a humbled smile, a thought occurred to me upon the admission. "Heck. Honestly, Cindy? Thinking about it like that, I'm surprised I created an A.I. as amazing as you. You came out a lot better than I could have ever hoped and you're still surprising me."

This time, the emote blinked, red pixelating in it's cheeks... Blush? It made a pleasant smile while it's eyes relaxed. "Ah... Well... I dare say that you never fail to surprise me with just how great a person you are, if I'm at liberty. Lady Amy and Sir Knuckles, too, of course." That whole time, Cindy's emoticon was lip flapping accurately to her words. ... She was animating the icon herself! She then closed her eyes. "I don't believe I have ever told you as much, however I stocked much of my free time into researching famous geniuses of the past. Many- if not nearly all- came up as empty dullards with little to their characters aside from their ingenuity. One ancient scientist from before our age was known for what I have come to expect of you."

Amy butt in a bit as she pushed in over my chair, nearly resting her stomach on my head while I cocked a brow looking up at her. "Hey, hang on. I find it hard to believe there's ever been a two tailed fox boy before."

Cindy's yellow emote blinked it's plain eyes... before she gave a small chuckle. "I don't know if there is factual proof of such a thing but I was not speaking of appearances. Merely personalities..." She made a blank face... Then smiled nervously and sweat drop on side of her emote's face. "Though... I suppose that I shouldn't compare. I know there are differences and said differences ring clear."

I was starting to feel the heat rise in my cheeks, getting talked about like this. Rolling my eyes through a nervous grin, I cleared my throat, getting both the hedgehog and the A.I.'s attention as they looked at me, Amy removing herself from atop my seat and instead looking at me from on side of it. While I did indeed have the floor, Knuckles butt in next. "We should focus." Everyone looked back at him, myself including. He seemed impatient. "I have a feeling there are more of those recordings we need to hear, right Cindy? Let's not get side-tracked."

The A.I. nodded her icon's "head" ever so slightly as we refocused on her. "Very well. We shall talk more once we have heard the remainder of these recordings, then. I believe that shall be fair."

Knuckles nodded to this.

"This next recording speaks of Project Vitality."

The screen transitioned to a plain black screen, a blue bar slowly filling up at the bottom as the static in the background returned... And then, Gerald spoke.

"I have both good news and bad news. After years of monitoring my grand-daughter extensively, it seems to me as if she will never develop NIDS. Her condition remains unchanged throughout this entire time."

I gasped and accidentally pulled down on the control stick, sending the plane into a swift dive, much to Amy's yelping! I quickly realized what I had done and pulled back up, sweating nervous bullets while pulling up back into our flight path and sighing...

"What the heck, Tails?!" I nearly jumped again with Amy's shout as I nervously grinned back at her. She had a fuming glare on her face and was nearly stood straight over me. Before either of us went further with that, we snapped our attention back to Cindy's screen to hear Gerald go on with interest and curious stares.

"Now for the bad news that brings with it... Being that Maria's condition is so incredible, I have decided to discontinue this project. It could never have began, it seems, as it never got passed the monitoring stages. Without a ... a control group... it's better to nix the whole thing, as they-"

"G-grandad," came a very shaky child's voice. It was hard to tell, but ... a boy? A child Colin, maybe. What immediately followed was an intense hacking cough from what had to be Maria. The boy apologized over and over for some reason all while Gerald seemed to be beside himself with "oh dear god"s and other such pleas that broke into sobbings... before the recording cut for a moment... but the time hadn't run out.

We all looked at each other with a similar expression... worry... We weren't ready for that.

The recording came back to silence that lasted a long moment. There was coughing in the background.

"... I will... amend my recorded cancellation of Project Vitality... Maria has suddenly shown high signs of NIDS. I fear that the only logical conclusion as to why it took so long for the signs to appear may be this current environment's sterility. Why and how, I can not say, held to secrecy by my oaths... *sigh* I dreaded this day, but ... I will be informing her of the current situation and her part in the project after this recording's end... But I will make myself clear..."

I sat and listened with bated breath and an uneasy furrow in my brows.

"I may be going through with this mad task, but I deeply loathe myself for ever agreeing to this... Even death would have been better than having to EXPERIMENT on my daughter's child...! Why did it have to be...?" The recording cut...

I closed my eyes and hung my head for a while. I could tell Cindy had taken control of the plane, because I was not feeling us dip down, even though I know I was pushing the stick forward. "That's just terrible..."

"The old man JUST felt the relief from thinking she was in the clear... and then that decided to happen." I opened my eyes and looked back at a somberly grimacing Knuckles, still sitting out there on the tail. "It almost felt like a... divine prank with how that sounded..."

"No kidding," Amy chimed in. She folded her arms and sat back in her seat, but she looked very uncomfortable. "I already knew Gerald only did what he did in the end because of what must have happened... but... I just never imagined how terrible it all was."

With a sad frowning face bowing it's head, Cindy spoke. "As much as I wish that were the end of it all, Lady Amy, there are still two more. They are of the same ilk... I will play them back to back."

The screen went black and the scrolling bar came back... and we listened in silence.

"... This is Gerald Robotnik of the House of Ivo... I denounce the pretense of secrecy. The current date is August 24, year 3185... I am aboard the Space Colony ARK, a facility camouflaged as a second moon over Mobius. It is home to a multitude of human scientists and their families along with a few dozen security teams, myself included... We have been up here for... quite a few years... And still... There is no cure for NIDS. Project Vitality has been forcefully cancelled by my colleagues, due to it not being an epidemical disease, nor a common one... They instead wish to pour all resources into U.L.F., which they always believed to be more... worth while..."

"The cover story will be that we simply could not cure the disease and I will have lost yet another daughter to it... Maria can never return home to Earth... The second she would return, she would be heavily infected by sickness after sickness... A slow and painful death... No... I would spare her this fate... in every way I could... But enough... I would speak of more than my sorrows...

"... An alien man of unknown origin has come and volunteered his hand at helping us finish U.L.F. ... He stated that we are to start from scratch using DNA solely from Mobians- most specifically, the hedgehog. I believe his words were, "they have some of the most potential of the subspecies." ... We are to begin right away..."

"... ... ... The name U.L.F. is no longer fitting. It's no longer my work. The project's new name will be Shadow. Project Shadow... ... ... It better be worth this... My daughter's daughter is all I have left... They have taken Collin, along with every other child on this station, away... They say we are too distracted by the children to have them around, but left Maria, for there was no way to reintroduce her into a surface life..."

"... I just wanted to save Maria... I wanted to save the child who shared my own child's warmth and comfort... I would do ANYTHING... to save her... I will be made to make a being they would hail as the next Massiah and abandoning the creature that started it all... These are... NOT men of science. These are heathens...! But no... I will give them what they ask... a vessel for their son... Not mine... As long as I may hold my dearest grandchild tight... for as long as we may live... ... ... Forgive this old man his mottled words... He tires..."

The recording cut and ended... But then, before we could even speak among ourself, the next recording started. Gerald again.

"... ... ... It's a success... August 13th, 3185... The work is finished and Shadow lives... Immediately, he took to Maria and I... I... It... feels nice... I have not felt this since my daughter, yet... it is a strange feeling that something born of darkness can hold the capacity to care... Perhaps... I was wrong in one way... Shadow is my son... And his success has ... given me a hope... I merely wish there was something I could do for Maria... Something... I tossed around the wonder of, if I could simply give Maria a new body, but the disease would still be within her, dormant, as long as it was her same brain... And we have yet to strike an advancement that would allow a soul transplant... My one hope is... quite the unlikely one... ... ... May god find mercy within himself to grant her another chance at life... for this man begs from the bottom of his heart and soul... A child so pure... deserved a life longer than these fleeting moments stuck in space..."

"... ... ... I believe that is enough... I can't be found like this by Maria and Shadow... One final week of-"

The sound of a sliding door screeching open was followed by the beating of rushing boots, clicking guns and a gasp from Gerald! A man's unfamiliar voice followed. "Freeze! You are hereby under arrest and will stand trial for treason and illegal experimentation!" We all gasped, me and Amy leaning in to listen!

"Gih! M-madness! I have government approval!"

"We've heard it already from your ex-colleagues! The president too was a traitor! Any Government approval prior to Acting President Vita Martina's term is hereby revoked! I repeat! Come quietly or you will be executed where you stand!"

"... Martina...! ... I will go... but please! You must understand something crucial! My granddaughter is terminally ill with NIDS! She can't return to the planet! Please... She is so young... She's all I have left..."

"... ... ... There was only one child aboard this colony as of the year 3124, August 24. Correct?"

"...! That's correct- yes... Why do you...?"

"... Nothing... It's nothing. We've yet to find her, but rest assured that she will be let be."

"... Thank you... That is all I want... I will shut down my things and come out when done. You need not worry. This room has no other exit aside from the hall door."

"Be quick about it!" The boots sounded out and grew distance before a door shut closed and eerie silence continued for a solid ten seconds.

"... ... ... Liar... You will all pay DEARLY for this..." The recording cut a second later.

... We all sat in silence. I let myself slowly collapse back in my seat, sighing. Everything just sat stagnant in the air for a while.

My head felt fuzzy with the overwhelming information. It implied, explained and confused. But most of all, it showed me how much Gerald truly cared for his family. "... I never could have imagined how terrible it all must have been... I already knew how this was going to turn out, but..."

"I know..." Looking back to Amy, I saw how down she looked about it all with that downcast frown on her face. Her hands were squeezing each other entirely too tight within her lap. "Gerald really did lose everything..." She looked up into my eyes... and shook her head before making a slight glare. "Still. That doesn't make it right, what he did in the end. He didn't need to involve the whole world. That was too far."

Knuckles looked in at us, just sitting there and saying nothing for a while... but eventually, he closed his eyes and chimed in. "Still, I sort of understand his pain. I remember the fall of Albion, being forced to watch while it and it's people died. I also know how I felt when every Echidna I was in charge of got banished by that lunatic." The echidna clutched his hands into fists and shut his eyes, glaring. "I was so... enraged..." The glare immediately vanished under furrowed brows and a frown. "And sad..."

...It was tactless, but I immediately recalled Su in that moment. "Speaking of that.." I turned and looked at him with a troubled stare, leaning around my seat. "I've been meaning to ask. I understand how every other Echidna came to be there, but there was one that really didn't make sense. Julie-Su. How is she there?"

He looked at me and smirked... a bit nervously. "Well..." His brows furrowed as he rubbed his head. "I-... I mean she... really lucked out..." Taking a breath and frowning, he came to stare into his lap. "I don't know how she did it, but she escaped the full warp to wherever and instead ended up high over Marble Garden Zone." He shut his eyes for a moment as he shuddered, then opened them back up to go on. "I can only imagine it was a long fall, because when sabre brought her back, it was on his back. She was a bruised mess and she couldn't walk. It took weeks of rehab and pain for her to be able to walk again... I still remember how weak she looked in the first few days and how she almost accepted that she'd be in a chair for the rest of her life..."

Amy and I stared at knuckle with miserable frowns on our faces. I couldn't keep looking at him, the idea of a crippled Julie being emotionally painful to imagine. Somehow, I regathered my composure enough to sigh and shake my head. Then, I looked back up at him and reluctantly asked this question. "This may sound cruel, but... are you sure that Su is really herself?"

Knuckles blinked out of his sad expression and breathed for a moment, eyes closed... Then, he looked into mine, unwavering as he nodded and said, "Julie is one of a kind. There isn't another person like her in the world. She's her."

"I'm with Knuckles on this one," Amy affirmed, nodding with a smile. "We both should know her, you and I." She cocked her brow, with that said. "Sooo, why would you ask such a silly question?"

I tilted my head with an uncertain stare. "I-I didn't really doubt that she was Su, but... Well, no one else has ever come back that's been banished..." Amy nodded, appearing to understand. That made me think as I sat straight in my seat and turned away. My mind quickly started to race through theories. Luck? That didn't seem like a great thing to depend on. Could she have tapped into her latent chaos energy to escape? Possibly. But there was still something that didn't seem right about that...

"Tails? ... Tails~?! ... TAILS!"

I yelped and nearly jumped high enough to smack head first into the cockpit glass! Upon landing on my rump, I immediately scrambled to stare Amy in the eyes with my own wide! "What!?"

With that, the pink hedgehog snickered to herself with a smirk. "You zoned out again," she remarked with a playful tone. After a shrug, she came to tilt her head and blink. "I was asking why it bugged you so much? And couldn't you have just asked Su?"

The question made me stare for a moment, but I eventually hummed, looking around as my answer came. "Well... there are loads of reasons for both of those. It bugs me, because if she could get out of the warp, shouldn't everyone else have been able to, as well? Not just that, but she wasn't alone when she got "warped". Saffron's nowhere to be seen, just like the echidnas, but she was a bee. So, I guess it doesn't make sense why Thrash would want her gone." I furrowed my brows as I came to stare at Amy. "But as for why I didn't ask her while we were there, I guess that I didn't think about it again. There is already so much going on and I was the only one bothered by the fact that she was there, so I guess it just wasn't important enough..." Thinking about the words I decided to spit out at the end made me glare inwardly at myself, before my hands came to hold my face.

Amy grew worried and reached over toward me, asking, "Are you oka-?"

A hand shot from my face and slammed down on my arm rest in a fist, cause Amy to yelp and sit back in her seat, but I paid her no mind. "WOW! I really AM a genius! "It's wasn't important?!" Of course it was! I should have ask, because then maybe, by now, I might have some inkling about how to get the echidnas back! Talk about thinking with my-"

"TAILS!"

I snapped my wide-eyed attention to Knuckles, whom was totally calm, staring at me through the glass and shaking his head. Even as he sat there on the tail of the plane, technically in the most danger and heard me say all that I did, he was as cool as ice. "You were absolutely right before. All of that does NOT matter right now. However, keep that head of your's. I'll need it later." Smiling, he went on. "For now, Sonic comes first. Because for all the crap I didn't agree with him on, he's a true friend to me. He's saved us more than a few times, so I want to do the same for him and pull him out of whatever crater he's in, if I can."

...For the longest time, I just stared with taken aback awe... Knuckles had become so different that I hardly realized he was the same guy that liked to use his fists more than anything. I finally made a small smile. "...Thanks... I swear that I'll make it up to you. I know we asked a lot of you, this time..."

He chuckled to himself outside of the window, even though we couldn't hear it. "You know it! And I want a bigger plane next time you ask me for a favor or no deal!"

I sputtered a bit in laughter, then smirked big at him with a nod. "Oh, I'll give you a plane, but it's always gonna be a classic!"

He rolled his eyes and returned the smirk. "You and your planes..."

Amy smiled at the both of us, relaxed with her legs crossed in the seat and hands on her stomach.

With everything said and done, I turned away from everyone and took hold of the control stick, retaking control of the plane from Cindy, who gladly handed them over with a smile on her monitor. Afterwards, she returned to the map screen and showed us our current heading. Walrus island was still a ways away, but I was certain we'd get there.

With positivity back aboard this flight, the journey was far easier to make and went by much quicker. As we soared through the bright sky, we would eventually grow close to our destination, Walrus Island, with open minds and clear heads, despite the logs and heavy subjects that were brought up before.

The journey could have been called too easy up until this point... That was going to end when we arrived... We had no idea what we were about to get involved in...

* * *

 **(** ** _FINALLY DONE! IT'S FINALLY DONE._**

 ** _I no longer feel like a terrible writer. Even though I am, let's be honest. ;u;_**

 ** _This thing... This chapter gives me such anxiety for multiple reasons. One, I was honestly thinking about giving Ivo a bigger part in Gerald's logs, but there was one problem... He wasn't born yet. ouo; So I goofed. Instead, Colin got that part. I'm not really all that clear on Colin's age, but to me, he looked, in some ways, older than Ivo._**

 ** _Two, I went through two different final logs for Gerald's part. One wasn't Gerald and instead Maria, but that would have been a total downer. And a little impossible, because there is no way she could drag herself through the ARK and reach Gerald's computer before bleeding out. Don't let anime fool you. The human body can only carry a few gallons of blood, not a water tower's worth. :P_**

 ** _Finally, if you recall the update on the tenth chapter... I had lost the final part of this chapter TWICE. The end with Knuckles talking about his feelings and making Tails feel better was originally very different. I can't remember all the details, but there was a bit more dialogue than this. But like I said. I couldn't remember it all. I suppose most of that is due to the fact that I wrote it at night. Which is a good idea if you have no other time to do it, but not a good idea in actual practice because you tire easily in the waning hours of the night._**

 ** _So yeah. First time I lost that, I kinda lost motivation to continue. I almost felt that again when I lost it the other night, but thankfully that did not happen._**

 ** _Even though this is different from what I had intended at the end, I hope it all makes enough sense for you guys. ^^;_**

 ** _And with that, POW! I'm Gone~!)_**

 ** _IcyPinkFlower - Indeed! U.L.F. standing for Ultimate Life Form is correct. I didn't want to change the name merely because it would break canon and feel less immersive. I REALLY never liked how pretentious the title was, but as he is who he is, Shadow remains as he is deemed. Also, thank you! That means a lot, being that this chapter was one of my worst nightmares.  
_**


	12. Chapter 12: Mechanical Desires

Hours passed by with minimal incident. A few badniks, but nothing the tornado couldn't immediately blast through with it's laser cannons.

As soon as we arrived over the great island named Walrus Island, everything seemed calm. We were high up enough to see just how large the island was.

It was a great slab of land that expanded out for miles shaped loosely like a kidney. As far as islands go, this was one of the larger ones that barely missed the measurements it took to be a tiny country. It wasn't all that separated from the part of the mainland dubbed the Northern Tundra, either.

It was mostly clear, but spotty clouding made for an interesting sky to navigate. The snowy weather around us made me think, "lucky for us that we have a temperature controlled plane keeping us warm. ... Well, most of us."

Knuckles was still outside the plane, shivering his butt off.

Amy sighed in exasperation, slumping in her seat. Flipping around and shooting an irritated glare at Knuckle, she yelled, "Y'know, if you freeze to the plane, you won't be so macho! Get your red butt in here and stop being a stubborn "man"! It's not a big deal if you have to squeeze in a bit as long as you aren't a popsicle, isn't it?"

He scoffed at her, despite the fact that he was huffing white cold smoke and shaking like a leaf. "N-n-no way! I-I'm no wimp-p and a m-man doesn't m-mu-muscle in-n-n on a l-l-lady's seat!"

Amy let out a terrible groan, throwing herself down in her seat with crossed arms! "I THANK you for remembering your manners, but it's at the cost of being brain-dead!" What number attempt was this? ... fifteen? While the climate temperature continued to skyrocket down, Amy had been trying to get Knuckles to squeeze in beside her so he could be in the heated cockpit, but Knuckles was so embarrassed of the idea that he kept refusing her.

"H-h-hey," Knuckles telepathically puffed out at the same time as he actually puffed out air, all while snow began to snag on his fur. His nose was red from the cold. "I n-n-never once complained ab-bo-bout it being c-c-c-cold! S-s-so, stop g-g-getting so w-worked up ab-out it-t!"

I rolled my eyes in boredom. "Okay, this is getting old." I looked down to Cindy and merely spoke her name.

She immediately opened up a blue-outlined hole in back of the cockpit's window, much to Knuckles' surprise, then materialized a cybernetic, blue hand in the back of him before using it to push him in, making him yelp! He fell over onto Amy as they both began to complain, but Cindy sealed up the hole before Knuckles could crawl re-orientate himself!

This ended up in quite an awkward position (use your imagination) and tones of complaining while the two attempted to get into a more suitable one. "Ack! That's my leg a- cold!"

"Hey, this wasn't my idea, it was your's! YOW! Watch it!"

"Then flip over!"

"Augh! Just give me a minute and I will!"

"Do it faster! Agh- hey! Not on me! On the seat! You're too heavy!"

"Whoa, hair! Don't pull!"

"Says the one pulling MINE!"

"I get it, okay?! Just... Okay... I think I got... there!" With a long sigh from the both of them, I cocked my brow and tossed a look back real quick. Somehow, they found enough room to fit themselves side by side together in the seat, but there was literally no room left, one leaning on one side of the seat and the other doing the same. Knuckles had a slight tinge of blush in his strained, reserved expression while Amy just looked pleased with herself, looking right at me with a cocky smirk and raised. "Told ya we could fit."

With a bored stare on my face, I rolled my eyes and focused back on the sky in front of us, just in time for a beeping to ring out. I gasped and blinked my eyes wide, looking around! "Enemies, Cindy?!"

This alarmed both Amy and Knuckles as well as the two of them began to look around at the sky outside as well. We couldn't spot anything, even though the weather was surprisingly clear, other than spotty clouds.

Cindy's screen was red with her serious expression shaking it's head. "Not around us, Master Tails. There appears to be a large concentration of badnik signatures below on the island focused around a small number of mobians." Her screen transitioned to a radar, which highlighted a minimum of twenty or so red enemy signatures and three green blips directly beside them... I squinted a bit at the Radar and realized I was wrong. Four. There was one green signature moving atop two reds.

They were all east of where we were with the green blips on our side and drifting lower on the radar as we maintained our course. Nodding, I turned away from said course, making the plane turn on it's side and sweep to the right before leveling it out and placing us on a direct path toward the action. "Sonic has to wait, guys. But I think you'll both agree about why."

Amy nodded with a sharpened determination in her eyes. "Right. Helping people always comes first. I'm right with ya, Tails."

Knuckles, on the other hand, sniffed through his messed up nose, giving it a rub. "Right... Welp, so long, Heat. It was nice while it lasted..."

The pink hedgehog merely rolled her eyes and looked at him with an unamused glare. "You can stay in here all you want. I'm going hammer those metal heads." She unbuckled herself from the seat and stood up, looked down at me. "Tails, can you fly us right over the badniks and flip the plane over?"

I cocked a brow at the request. "Well, yeah. I can, but why would I be a shhhhooo-..." I blinked... then stared up at her like she was nuts. "AMY. There's no way you'd make it without a parachute and even then, badniks can come with guns! You'd be shot up before you get down there!"

Amy was about to speak, but Knuckles got up with her and nodded. "No. We won't. I'm jumping, too, so we'll be fine."

I looked at the echidna for a good long while, but eventually shook my head. "I don't know what you think you can do, but you sound confident, so I'm not even gonna try."

Focusing my attention back to the front, I watched the radar as we approached the... "drop point." Let's go with that. The blips grew closer and closer...

* * *

Down below, three mobians in heavy, furred, inter coats stood alone in the snow with a single individual screaming in the distance among a mixed group of badniks. Any who looked at them as they were this moment would not be able to clearly make out a face. Still, their apparent ages and role were somewhat identifiable.

A father stood as the tallest of the three with the other two huddled behind his legs, which wore heavy khaki pants and large, spiked snow boots. His face was mostly hidden beneath his furred hood, but one could make out almond, brown eyes and his bared, white teeth in his mouth.

The other two were obviously children, but none of their features were visible with them hiding their faces in their father's legs.

As for the badniks, undamaged moto-bugs like the one Amy and I saw in the village, foot soldier robotnik drones the likes of while Robotnik used in his early conquests, twin dragirons, Egg-bees and a newer, terrifying rendition of what seemed a white Crabmeat.

Expressionless, even when compared to the rest. It had spikes all over it's flat back, still uniform. The body looked like it was trying to be more like a polygon-ish crab's. The legs were basically long scythes that could be used to walk... and kill whatever they walked on. They already sunk in the snowy ground, even passed the dirt. Sheering crab claws replaced the less lethal version of the pincers. The eyes it had were more like red lights under a shell. No face. Just eyes that seemed to stare This wasn't even the subtle image of deadly force. There was no friendly appearance to hide it's destructive nature.

One badnik stepped forward, special... because it wasn't a badnik. It was a roboticized mobian bear with solid white plating that surely used to be fur. As it was, it was as if it were a walking snow wall. It's body was massive with heavy segmentation and bore limbs thick like trees.

It's head was "small" on it's large body, but only by mobian standards. The rough bear shape, everything had been made more blocky by roboticization. It's mouth was sharp with spikes that seemed more like teeth, the nose triangular and black with a spiked front end. The ears on it's head were boxy in shape. The eyes were grey over a black surface made to be schlera and were shaped to constantly glare.

As for it's arms, they held sharped fingers that would pass far more easily for massive claws with how sharp they were. It could probably jab and stab someone, if it wanted to. The legs were much the same, but held true to bear legs by being short compared to their arms. Still, if it was as powerful as it looked, it may not need speed.

It also had a tail, but it looked more like a thick light switch.

This guy was so big that he towered over everyone else as if they were mere children and the two children look like babies.

Whatever happened before we got there had every other badnik converging around the three mobians with a single-mindedness.

The father used his hands to push his children back from him, much to their protests and pleas! Then, he put his arms out in defense of them, turning his head to look at them, "You both need to run! Leave the bad guys to Daddy and run! I better not have to repeat myself!"

"Bu-but daddy, mo-"

"RUN AWAY!"

The sheer volume of the man's voice startled his children enough to run away from him and the Badnik!

The Father would turn to face the robots and see the roboticized bear pointing toward him.

As four moto-bugs with the same eyes as the bear shuddered and turned away from the father, he looked back and forth between them all in alert confusion, only to gasp as they took off and zoomed passed him, much to his terror!

He turned to his side and looked back to see the four encircling his children with his eyes wide! Turning back to the bear, he dropped to his hands and knees, tears in his eyes and dripping down his cheeks! "Please! They're just children- let them go! I should be all you want! Why them, too?!"

The bear finally acknowledged the father, looking down at him with his eyes alone. His voice was very deep and computerized, booming as he spoke. "ALL are worthy candidates in the Metal Legion. Even humans. They will be honorable members for our cause as all will and you will need not fear for them or yourself ever again. Once you have been converted, all shall be made clear, just as it was to me." ... After a pause, the bear stepped forward toward the man, his every step making the ground shiver.

The man trembled before him, frozen in his fear, even as he breathed the cold, white air.

Crouching over the man, the polar monster's shadow eclipsed him. "Or... would you wish for them to suffer? That is all you can hope for with their bodies yet of flesh. Pain. Suffering. Frightful outcomes that all vanish as they are given to metal."

Gasping in utter horror, the father threw himself at the bear and pushed him back ever so slightly with a maddened scowl in his eyes! "I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH THEM! EVERYTHING YOU SAY IS NOTHING BUT A PACK OF LIES!"

The bear, though being pushed back, was not alarmed in the least. He took one mighty arm and thrust it down on the father, who screamed out in pain before the bear smashed him into the snowy ground! It only took that one move to K.O. the man. His opponent was just too much for him.

As the bear spoke, he turned his attention on the children, rising back up and walking toward them. "I do what I do to save you all. Please, try to understand this. Once you are of metal, you shall be set free from all worry and fear."

Badniks swarmed the father mercilessly and began to carry him through their crowd, the children begging, pleading and crying for their dad!

Above the area, I turned the plane upside down, belly to the clouds as Cindy de-materialized a great hole in the canopy! Amy and Knuckles immediately jumped down and out of the plane, rocketing down toward mobius like torpedoes! With that hat on her head, Amy had to hold in down with a hand.

I watched the two of them fall from my seat in the cockpit with a nervous stare, wind raging along my fur and in my ears! The wind burned my eyes and started to cloud my vision, but I couldn't look away. Thankfully, Cindy re-materialized the canopy before my eyes dried out.

As the two fighters fell from the sky, Knuckles maneuvered himself in close to Amy, who watched him in anticipation. The red echidna drew his hands in as he clenched his fists and began to burn with an emerald green aura, especially in his eyes!

The robotic polar bear paused in his advance toward the children... then turned his attention up toward my friends. His gaze brought every badnik to realize the threat and take aim if they had a gun of any kind.

Cannons fired laser pellets and beams! Guns shot their bullets! Missiles flew from the dragirons' open maws! All ripped through the air above and converged upon the two fighters!

On that note, Knuckles threw open his arms with his fists clenched tight as his aura burst from his body and formed a hexagon built, emerald ball around both him and Amy! It was a defensive wall!

Gunfire twang against it harmlessly! The lasers, no matter the form, deflected off and away! Missiles exploded on contact as force, fire and smoke bathed the ball mercilessly! ... And as the ball fell away from it all, it was shining just as brilliant and still held it's passengers, who were entirely unharmed!

The ball dropped at critical velocity, whistling toward the crowd of badniks! It crashed into the bots and the ground, impacting as a medium crater was made and the machines, both broken or otherwise, were sent hurdling away!

Even the father was thrown from his metal captors as he tumbled the snowy ground back to the bear, who glared at the insuing chaos and awaited what would happen next.

* * *

I was in awe of what I witnessed our red echidna was now capable of! ... But my expression soon changed with a gasp to surprise! Out of the crowd, while Knuckles and Amy had just landed, the dragirons seemed to snap their attention upon my plane, much to my alarm as I turned the plane and prepared to fight!

They shot off into the air with the support of Egg-bees at their sides and gave chase as things began to escalate on the ground!

* * *

Knuckles dropped the ball shield as he and Amy took immediate offensive to the enemy, rushing a pair of moto-bugs! The echidna ran ahead as his fist caught fire with the aura from before along with his eyes! He spun himself around and threw one mighty punch as a cone of energy spun along his spiked fists!

The moto-bugs were helplessly ripped to shreds of flying debris by the power before the spiral dissipated and left Knuckles standing at the end of a melted trail of snow!

As the bots began to regroup, three Egg-bees encircled around the echidna and took aim with their laser gun stingers!

Amy rushed forward as she lifted a hand into the air, summoning her hammer from a puff of sudden smoke! She jumped up high and brought her hammer up and back as she traveled toward one bee! The hammer came down and crushed the foe's head, before following down and smashing the rest of it to pieces!

The two remaining bees fired their laser pellets in a rain at the red echidna!

With his fists up in guard, he began to dance in hops around the shots, making them hit nothing but the snow where he once was again and again!

A shot fired from behind him from yet another enemy, but it JUST sailed by the echidna's head, much to his surprise! He turned to his side and spotted the singular, massive crabmeat! It looked much bigger now that it was just a few yards away! Eyes still burning with aura, Knuckles scowled at the bot and rushed up while Amy took out another Egg-bee by bashing it to the ground with her hammer! Sensing something very off about this fight, Amy carefully lifted her hammer and cocked her brow... Bits and pieces of machine carnage and oil, but no animals. These robots were empty.

Upon this realization, she glared down at the broken machine in confusion. "Knuckles, the-"

-Pow!- -sssSSF!-

Amy was taken by surprise as the last of the three bees shot and hit her hat's ring as it immediately caught fire, much to her shaken realization! She quickly tossed the hate off and to the ground as it burned much like paper and crinkled apart!

A moment passed... And then Amy whipped around with a scowl that bespoke madness! "THAT WAS MY FAVORITE HAT!"

A blood-curdling growl erupted from the pink hedgehog as the Bee began to move back, but Amy's thrown hammer crashed into it and smashed it to bits! In a puff of smoke, it vanished, then reappeared as the hedgehog was running toward the outward badniks!

* * *

I rolled my plane in between missile fire and laser pellets alike! Some shots just missed the wings and tail while others were way off, but the enemy was slowly learning my movements!

I was sweating just to keep up!

"Master, I will attempt to shoot down the enemies, but you must be cautious! The engine does not-"

"Have enough energy left to pull what we did before," I finished for her. "I know!" ...And suddenly, for a moment, an intense fear made itself known to me as I zoned out in a cold sweat... I suddenly thought about what would happen if we got shot out of the sky right now... I had taken precautions against it, but not against total system failure. I didn't have enough time... Cindy would either be friend or severely damaged... As I came back to reality, I looked back at the badniks, then back up front at Cindy's monitor.

"...Master?"

I let my head dip a bit, biting my lip, but I eventually sighed and looked at the tablet, a stern expression on my face. "Cindy, if we come too close to running out of power or get shot even once, I want you to eject your program."

"Wha-...! No!" "Her" face came up on her tablet, an angry glare on it. "What rubbish! I refuse to leave you to save myself!"

"It's not gonna come to that, but please just promise me!" I couldn't handle flying and arguing at the same time. A missile sailed over the canopy by a few measly yards! I pushed us down from the trail of smoke it left, then hooked us left! I kept performing tight maneuvers around shot after shot, all while attempting to talk! "I can't lose- ugh!- someone again! I can't lose you, of all people! Agh! You aren't just some machine to me! You're- UGH!" I twisted the plane between two laser pellets and a missile, each barely missing either the tail or belly of the plane and coming FAR too close for comfort!

Luckily, this maneuver brought a few bees into our line of fire! Cindy quickly deployed the laser cannon and took aim at the one directly above it and-

-TSOWM!-

Two brilliant lasers shot out and ripped a bee into smoldering pieces that dropped uselessly toward the planet! Another quick aim of the gun to our left and Cindy fired again, blasting it's friend out of the sky by clipping it's wings! It spun out of control and fell like a rock to the ground... and a distant explosion below signaled the end for it.

I pulled us up and upside down as a dragiron continued to tail us, the other not far behind with the bee back up in tow! I let out a frustrated grown as I continued to weave through their follow-up attacks, but at this point, the ground and sky began to blend in as I barely had any chance to blink! "This isn't the time to argue! I'm begging for your word!"

Cindy's frowned at me. She came to bow her "head"... Closing her digital eyes, she conceded. "... As you wish... It had better not come to that..."

Closing my eyes for the moment, I felt a relief wash over me. I couldn't help but smile... "Thank you, Cindy..." Opening my eyes and pulling the plane into a u-turn, I spun to avoid a missile and set us on a direct path toward the pursuers, glaring them down! "Well then! Let's crack eggs!"

"Acknowledged," Cindy yelled as the cannons trained on her next victims! In one fire of the laser cannons, two bees and a dragiron were ripped to shreds and thrown out of the sky on our fly by! The dragiron exploded before they could reach the ground, taking the bees with it!

There now remained a single dragiron and three bees... However, we all know that's dangerous. The second it's friend's body exploded, it began to shudder in place before it's eyes gleamed a more intense red! It tossed itself around and redirected toward us at full charging speed! The Egg-bees were unable to follow it at that speed, so they broke away and began to widen their area coverage around us!

It zigged right toward us as I pulled the plane away from it's snapping jaws and gnashing teeth! It recoiled and speared itself at us again! I pulled up and out of it's way! After rounding itself and picking up speed, it shot up and fired a missile from it's wide open jaws with the missile roaring toward our right wings and itself toward our left! Before it could clip us, I just barely managed to turn us enough so that the dragon and missile both shot passed our canopy and belly! All the while this had been going on, Cindy had been lining it up! With the cannons trained on the monster badnik, the twin beams blasted toward it while it was making to ring around, shooting two finely punched holes through the dragon's middle section as it began to slow down and short-circuit!

-BAM!-

It exploded into flaming wreckage and smoke in every direction! As the smoke began to clear, we sped through it along with our last pursuers! The bees all shot through the smoke, trailing it behind them as they began to tightly encircle us!

They all readied to fire on us, but I simply smirked and pushed down my left pedal! The fins all split and flipped vertical, pulling us back and away as the bees fired and missed every shot! "Ring of fire, Cindy!" Upon saying that, I pulled the plane into an Aileron roll and Cindy aimed the cannons at the first bee before firing the cannons in a steadily maintained stream that rotated around in the badnik's circle of movement! The cannons roared as their lasers screamed and blew through the first bee before the line moved around and sawed through the next, then the next!

All three bees were blown away by the maintained streams before they cut off and soared away, aimlessly. The barrels of the cannons were red hot and smoking, but nothing was damaged. I pulled us out of our roll and leveled the plane with that smirk glued to my face. "Well, that wasn't really CRACKING eggs, but they were all bad, so it's fine~."

A groan from the A.I. earned a raised brow from me as I stared down at her screen, losing my smirk. She stared boredly at me. "Puns at a time such as this. Master, have more class..."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Come on~. I was just trying to lighten the mood."

And she rolled her's right back at me with a slight smile before switching back over to the radar screen, showing Amy and Knuckles's blips fighting off gradually decreasing red signatures. There were two other signatures surrounded by badniks with one all on it's own between the two groups... I squinted and looked near the center of the radar... The green dot being carried by the red was essentially somewhere beneath the plane.

Humming to myself, I turned the plane over upside-down and looked around directly "above" me. I didn't see them right away, but I indeed spotted a lone moving bipedal banik of some sort carrying off a mobian in a coat similar to the others... Glaring down at this, I turned my gaze upon our fuel gauge. It wasn't quite empty yet, but there definitely wasn't much... Groaning to myself in great irritation, I had to make a big choice...

I didn't have enough fuel to follow it all the way back to wherever it was going at the rate the badnik was traveling, because it'd be waiting around in the sky for far too long. I could eject and follow it on foot. I had SOME combat experience, but I was no longer confident in it. Two months without any will make you doubt yourself. A doubt I did with a grunt of frustration. I had one option. "... Cindy, I want you to keep track of the badnik beneath us. We don't have the fuel to go after it and I'm not confident I can take it and whatever else it's moving toward."

"Affirmative... but why should it matter where it's going? You may still be able to save the mobian it has taken captive if you act now."

... Which made sense... but there was just hesitation where there should be willingness... my eyes just stared at the lone badnik with a nervous foreboding. Why was it alone and how come it was taking the mobian alive? This was behavior I'd come to expect from the badniks while Eggman was in charge, but Eggman is gone, just like Sonic... There was no reason to believe he was back, until now... "Could it be...?"

"Master Tails...?"

I just sat there for a while, wondering what I should do with a nervous glare on my face... before shaking my head and sighing. "It's nothing, Cindy..." I thought for a moment, then nodded to myself. "I think there's a better way to go about this..." Turning the plane over, I began to turn us back toward the action. "Tracing one badnik won't get us much of anywhere. Instead, scan for any other heavy concentrations of badniks on the island. That'll tell us where our lone wolf is going."

"Understood, Master. Then... shall I temporarily shut down the scan for Master Sonic?"

I nodded with a heavy sigh. "Yeah... We can always scan for it again."

* * *

Back on the ground with Knuckles and Amy, the hedgehog's hammer seemed to have found a nice, sparking home inside of a badnik's back... that was before it blew up and tossed it from fire and smoke into the air! As it fell back down in an arch, it stopped in mid-air just feet away from the ground and began to pin on it's side before flying over the ground! It gained momentum as it flew toward a moto-bug, smashing through it and leaving it in pieces before returning to Amy! She caught it easily in her outstretched hand, glaring at the drastically decreased numbers of the badniks, still ready to fight.

An explosion blasted not far from where she stood as she looked and saw Knuckles flipping through the air before landing a few feet away from her, eyes still blazing with that green aura. He turned and looked at her before returning his glare at the remainder of the enemy, which seemed to be closing in around them! "Still having fun?"

She threw a glare back at him and shook her head. "I stopped having fun when they ruined my hat."

He gave a passive shrug with a slight smirk on his face. "Why'd you bring it down? Not exactly smart if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you, now did I," she threw back.

Suddenly, the robots all stopped... They just stared for a while, drawing out the confused scanning eyes of the two fighters.

"Why did they stop," the echidna asked an uneasy expression about him.

Amy was about to give a smart-aleck response, but her eyes immediately locked their glare on something right in front of her. Confused by this, Knuckles turned and began to ask, "Wha-...?" He then immediately fell silent, eyes locking on what Amy saw.

A path between the badniks began to form as they backed off... only for it to be walked by a towering foe of snow-white... The polar bear stepped into the circle with them, a dead stare in his computerized eyes.

Both fighters tensed. Knuckles turned his full attention upon the bear and put up his fists as they caught fire with green aura. "And you must be the big boss..."

The bear didn't grace him with a response, merely stare right through him.

The pink hedgehog couldn't help but frown a bit, her stance weakening slightly. "Aren't you a mobian...? There are still roboticized victims we didn't find?"

"Victims...?" The bear finally spoke with that booming voice of him, eyes narrowed in a glare. "I'm afraid you are mistaken. I am no victim and you are quite the fool." He raised an arm and gestured dismissively with his hand. "If you claim to have helped in the de-roboticization of so many of your mobian brothers and sisters, then you have done nothing but given them back to their corrupted lives." He dropped his arm and truly frowned. "They were all so clean, rid of their filthy flesh and blood..." Closing his eyes and shaking his head, he finished with, "and you destroyed that for them..."

Knuckles shook his head and blinked out the fire in his eyes as the embers burnt out. He shook his head as he stood straight. "There's nothing clean about living the life of a toy. You can shut up and stop pretending like you're better for it."

A long, sad stare from the bear later and her sighed... Returning to his stoic stare, he spoke. "You do not know the things you say. But rest assured. Once you are made one of us, brother, you will understand why I feel so pure."

Knuckles scoffed at the bear's words, then looked passed him at both the unconscious father being carried by two badniks and the trapped and scared children weeping and holding each other as the moto-bugs around them continued to circle. "Pure like the intent of taking your fellow mobians by force?"

With a straight face and nod, the bear spoke. "If it means all can feel as I do, then yes. A life without pain, suffering, fear and hunger. Without need for sin. This is what I wish for the world's children- nay... for all. Humans and Mobians alike."

And suddenly, Amy's hammer flew and smacked the polar bear's face so hard that he fell over on his backside with a grunt!

Knuckle's eyes grew wide as he looked at Amy, who was scowling and shivering with anger. "You're completely insane! That or you're brainwashed like everyone else who's been roboticized!" She pointed at the bear and shouted, "I won't let you get even one. Not a single one! Because I'll break you before that ever happens!"

With minor irritation in his eyes, the bear pushed himself back onto his feet and took a breath before sighing it out and shaking his head. He walked toward her. "I hope you are prepared to follow through, because unless you do, I will."

Knuckles got ready to fight along with Amy, but she raised her hand in front of him as her hammer poofed back into her hand out of a puff of smoke. He stared at her in confusion. She had a determined look in her glare. "I wanna fight him myself. You can break all of his toys if you want, but I'm doing this. Got that?"

He merely stared at her, trying to get a read on what was going on in her mind. It was all anger and resentment. And a little bit of pride. Seeming to gain an understanding of the situation, Knuckles nodded. "Fine. But if it looks like you're in trouble, I'm stepping in." He glared directly at the roboticized mobian. "We both have our opinions of this guy."

She didn't give him a response, but he backed off.

The bear stared for a moment, having heard it all. "... Very well. If you want to clash ideologies, I will not disappoint. And, as an added bonus, If I lose this fight, I will shut down my drones and allow all to walk free. Your objective is to destroy me. Understood? Hesitate too long and both you and I will not like what happens." He turned his attention to Knuckles with a glare. "And you had better watch without attacking me or the drones. You are in no position to assist, as the captive three are now... insurance."

Knuckle didn't get it at first, cocking his brow... but it sunk in before too long as he looked over to the father and his children.

The unconscious father was now being held at point blank with a moto-bug's laser gun at the back of his head.

The two terrified children were in a similar predicament with all four moto-bugs surrounding them having stopped to train all guns upon vital areas, even as the shivered and cried together.

... This fight had just become a an even worse situation...

Amy was now pushed passed anger and straight into boiling, seething rage. "... You are going to PAY for threatening kids. If you think I'll hesitate now, you literally did one of the things I CAN'T forgive."

He simply stared at her with a very stern look about his face and said, "It was necessary. I can't trust this fight to be fair to me if one of you is allowed to do what you want. After all. This fight will now bring me six new brothers and sisters. And all are worthy, just as they are all worthy to sacrifice for the cause. Even the young." He didn't even choke up. In fact... he believed what he said, completely.

Amy was done, at that point. She leaned forward and burst forth in a rage-filled screamed with her hammer at the ready!

The bear stood his ground and got ready to retaliate as she drew near!

* * *

 _ **To be Continue...**_

 _ **Yeah, that seems like a cop-out, but I don't want you guys to feel overloaded by the size of the page. I've nearly completed the fight, but the after fight is still up in the air. We'll see if I can dunk another weekly chapter yet! :)**_

 _ **That being said, I want to make something clear. There will not be a main canon x main non-canon character ship in this story. The thing you just witnessed between Tails and Cindy has nothing to do with a possible dating relationship... I mean, she's a computer at this stage, so that would be pretty friggin' weird, but I wanted to BURN that before it got started. We'll go into their relationship more in the coming chapters.**_

 _ **As for ships in general... Well, what do you think? ;P**_

 _ **Regardless, let me know what you guys think of the story so far! If you got questions, leave ém in the review and I'll answer all that I can! ^^**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoy~! 3**_

 _ **EDIT: I changed the aforementioned interaction with Tails and Cindy a bit. I felt that it was one of those out-of-nowhere moments without any context to Tails's sudden fear. So, I added a little more to it to spruce it up a bit. I contemplated removing it, but it felt wrong.**_


	13. Chapter 13: Metallic Snow

I was nearing the snowy battlefield before much time at all. This was about when Amy and the polar monstrosity began to fight.

What I saw on the radar confused me. All of the remaining badniks were standing in a circle as a lone red dot and what was surely one of my friends' green dots struggled against one another, the green clearly outpacing the red.

With that said, all other green dots were still, as were the reds... I couldn't help but raise a brow.

An alarm went off in the plane, snapping me gasping back to reality as Cindy spoke. "We've nearly run dry on Fuel, Master. You must land the plane soon."

With the warning, I nodded and began my descent toward an area some small distance from the scene. "Alright. I guess we can just walk the rest of the way. I don't trust those bots not to shoot at me if I get too close, but that's just stating obvious worries."

I pulled the plane down, out of the sky and prepared to land, lowering the landing gear. I was forced to make a rough touch down on the snowy terrain, ricketing the plane at first and causing me to tense to my seat, grunting! I slowed the plane as fast as I could without tipping it forward or breaking my peddles! Eventually, we did stop.

I sighed and wiped my brow of sweat. My hand flipped the full shut-down switch as the plane powered down and the propellers stopped spinning, leaving the plane to wheen quieter and quieter...

When that stopped, I quickly flipped the solar panel activation switch. The top wings split at the top and folded out, exposing the solar panels as energy began to replenish. Immediately after, I took Cindy from the dash and slipped her into the sling as she let the canopy vanish, exposing us to the cool air and chilling winds!

I gasped from the initial chill down my spine and shivered, quickly pulling my hood over my head and zipping my coat up in record time! "Augh, that BIT! I felt that through the bone!"

"It is approximately 10 degrees Fahrenheit out, Master. Though, as it turns out, it can get much colder. This is a "warm" day, all things considered."

Standing up from my seat I shook my head and let out a rough grunt. "Doesn't matter! Amy and Knuckles are fighting in this! I need to get over there!" I jumped ship and immediately spun up my tails, taping my boots as they shot high-power gusts and propelled me faster forward through the freezing winds! Snow trailed like smoke behind me as I skimmed the tundric terrace.

As the air started to dry out my eyes, I thought quickly and pulled my goggles on, before continuing toward the scene, completely unaware of the true gravity of our situation. "Almost there."

* * *

And of course, the fighting raged on with Amy running a circle around the bear before sharply dashing toward him, spinning and swinging her hammer with incredible power!

The bear put both palms out and caught the blow with a grunt of effort, the amazing force blowing passed him and kicking up the snow on the ground behind!

In a quick rebound from the impact, the hedgehog spun back the other direction and went in for another swing, this time with her feet firmly on the ground! Again, the white wall reached with an arm and caught it in his palm with another grunt!

He then closed his fingers along the hammer's head and clenched tight to it, keeping Amy from removing it with sheer strength alone, might had Amy glaring daggers into him. "Mmph! You are monstrously strong, that is indeed true! However...!" He reeled back his free, massive arm and swiped down upon the fighter with an open palm! "SO AM I!"

It struck her devastatingly hard, forcing her from her hammer and hammering her into the ground before snow flew up around her! In that very same moment, she bounced from the snow and landed upon the ground before skidding a bit, smokey snow rolling back and being blown away by the wind...

Knuckles, eyes wide with concern, reached out and called, "Amy!"

Every badnik saw this and the one holding the father at gun point only further pushed the gun to the back of his head, making the man groan!

This alone kept the Echidna back, even as he scowled at the robot with endless hate, shivering. He drew his hand back quickly and grunted loud, clenching his fists tight to his sides! He could do nothing...

And soon after that, Amy rose, but her body did not reflect the damage she'd so clearly taken. She even stood easily enough as she glared at the bear, who seemed endlessly puzzled by this...

He threw the hammer only to have it burst into smoke mid-throw, much to his gasping alarm. He inspected his hands in some weird way to be sure by grasping at the air a few time. They were still empty and still quite worn from the attacks they withstood. Staring at Amy, he grew more alarmed. She now held her hammer in her outwardly extended hand, a smirk on her face. "How...? How are you unscathed?! How did you retrieve your hammer?! You can't be-"

"Does it really matter how I'm doing any of this? You should be worrying about how you're gonna fight a battle you can't win." And with that, her smirk vanished. "Be afraid. I'm gonna smash you to bits like any other badnik, because you seem to be okay with the idea of being one. And nothing's gonna stop me."

This shook the bear, but a moment later, he huffed and shook his head before staring her down. "Then try as hard as you like. Come and break yourself as many times as you want against this body!"

Knuckles, on the other hand, was cursing himself for being unable to do a thing to help. Watching Amy get hurt really bothered him. He was never one to watch a fight...

* * *

I was closing in on the fight at this point and ready to jump into action, but the sight of what was happening made me hum in question.

I quickly tapped my shoes as the jets shut off, then slid to a quick halt, before looking around for somewhere to hide... A small hill a short job to my right seemed a good place.

I ran over behind it and carefully climbed my way up to the top before laying flat to the snowy ground. This was to get a good view of the action, all while keeping as out of sight as I could. "Cindy. Camera mode."

As I removed her from the sling, she quickly turned on her back camera as the screen began displaying what was right in front of us. I pointed her in the direction of the fighting. At the current, un-adjusted view, everything was hard to make out...

I pressed my thumb to the directional pad's up button as the scene grew clearer and closer. It was a ring of moto-bugs and first generation Robotnik Soldier Drones. Seeing those was alarming enough, but there, in the center, was Amy facing off with the massive, bulky polar bear.

The first Roboticized mobian I had seen since we dubbed everyone deroboticized some time ago. There was no mistaking one when you saw it. The designs of roboticization victims always seemed a world apart from the badniks I had seen. My eyes moved to Knuckles, who looked ready to jump in at any given moment from the sidelines... So, why wasn't he...?

Even more alarming was what I squinted at out of the corner of the screen. Slightly adjusting my angle made me gasp at what was revealed with a cold sweat. What I saw were the three captive mobians being held at gun point. "So that's what happened. A hostage situation..."

"In other words, a dodged bullet... Though, this also means that we might not be able to intervene. A poor choice of action could lead to three untimely deaths..."

I couldn't stop my brain from imagining the screams and gunshots, which sent a shiver down my spine...

Cindy switched the screen to a blank background with his "face" on it, a frown clearly drawn into it as she spoke. "I suppose I need not ask, but... what should our course be? Are we truly going to sit and watch...?"

I looked off from her screen, frowning... "We don't have a choice... Anything we do would be detrimental... unless..." I looked Cindy in the face. "If we could somehow disable every badnik on the field at once, that would free the hostages. We just don't have a way... Using the Tornado is impossible and even if we could use it, it's too much brute force. We could easily hit Amy or Knuckles or both if we weren't careful. And we don't have any h-..." My eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait... Actually, we do." I grinned wide! "You! Cindy, you hacked into a badnik before from this tablet, right?"

She blinked into a blank stare and nodded. "I have indeed. Though I've never made one shut down, that might well work. I am quite confident that I could figure it out." She smiled back at me. "We also know that I am capable of multiplexication, so I could separate into however many of myself are necessary for the deed."

I had almost completely forgotten about the ability, but I smiled and nodded eagerly. "That's perfect! Are you sure you can do it?"

"More than certain, Master! Though, it may take a small amount of time."

"Do it."

* * *

-CRASH!-

Snow shot up in a pillar in the middle of the circle formed by badniks!

Amy skidded back from the white as the bear jumped out in pursuit, roaring as he came down upon her throwing a mighty punch! The hedgehog dodged out of the way as the fist came down and crashed into the ground a second time! A second pillar of white shot up around them! The pink hedgehog was fast enough to dodge most of his attacks, making it harder and harder to predict her!

Even with that, the bear was still creative. Amy attempted to run circles around him, but he simply jabbed a fist out in wait for her! In a gasp, the hedgehog dropped down on her side and slid under the fist before she could collide! This sent her skidding the snow a ways away from the bear before coming to a stop some yards away.

A roar from the bear from above drew her wide-eyed attention! He came down with both fists and slammed them down around her, the largest snow pillar yet blowing into the air! The impact made the ground shudder, much to Knuckles's surprise!

He stood there on pins and needles with a strained panic in his glaring eyes and borne teeth. "This guy might be too much...! What was or is she thinking?!"

When the snow cleared and began to settle back to the ground, our bear friend was the only one who could be seen, his fists stuck in the caved and shattered ground... He twisted them to free the dirt from them and pulled them out, then he immediately stared upward.

Confused by this, the echidna looked up, too, pleasantly surprised to see Amy, whom was high in the air above him!

* * *

How had she gotten that high up? Well, I don't really know for sure, but I know what I saw from my point of view.

As I was watching from afar, I gasped as the massive pillar of snow shot up from the bear's attack! I began to worry for Amy, but I was taken by awe when I squinted and saw her shoot out from the top of the snow cloud, hammer raised above her head!

Sitting there, mouth fallen open, all I could think was that she just performed some impossible task. There was no way she could have jumped that high, normally... So, there were two possibilities. Either the bear hit her- doubtful of that- or she was using her ring given power...

She might have been gradually mastering that power now that she actually knew where it came from.

* * *

She reeled back with her hammer while falling and swung it with all of her might, sending herself into a vertical spin down at her opponent!

Easily able to tell what she was doing, the bear jumped back and let her strike the ground as it crunched and splintered under the force of her hammer's impact! She came to stand on her feet, but as she tried to lift her hammer again, she strained and grunted trying. With a confused raise in her brow, she looked down at the head and saw that it was stuck half way in the shattered ground! "Oh."

Just as she was snapping her fingers in irritation, heavy stomps from foot falls began to get closer!

Alarmed, she looked up to see the bear charging at her! As he roared and reeled back with a fist, she jumped back and out of the way of a might, wind ripping punch just as her hammer poofed into smoke! The bear followed after her and swung again in an upper cut! The hedgehog stepped back from the blow just in time for her hammer to reappear from smoke in her hand!

She gripped it tight and took a swing at the same time as the bear swung a fist down on her! The blows collided in a loud -DING!- as their hammer and fist were sent bouncing off of each other, making them both stagger back! As they recovered at roughly the same time, they stared each other down through intense glares and charged right back at one another!

Fist after fist was thrown down upon Amy, putting her on the defensive quickly as she dodged and guarded each blow while attempting to work in swings with her hammer! Any attempt was thwarted by her opponent's adapting punches, forcing her back little by little!

When she was forced to the wall of their badnik made ring, she suddenly dove under his next punch- and under his legs- as it slammed into the first generation soldier drone behind her and blew it apart like it was merely assembled armor!

Amy slid out from under the bear and quickly, fluidly, pulled herself into a hand-stand as she spun her body around with the swing of her hammer, aiming for the bear's leg! The metal crackled and crunched under the direct hit from the mallet, making the bear stumble onto one leg with an alarmed grunt!

Even though she landed a clean, powerful blow on her opponent, Amy still ended up falling over from her maneuver and flat on her back. The bear used that and quickly turned, firing off a punch!

Amy gasped and rolled away from the blow! It came down and blew more snow into the air in sheets of white! She continued to roll as punch after punch wreaked havoc on the ground around them!

As a fifth fist flew her way, Amy made a flip backwards and seemed to dodge it... only for the bear to curve his strike and nail her directly in the middle of her back! The hedgehog coughed out the air in her lungs with a wide-eyed expression of pain as she was sent skimming the ground before she fell and tumbled across the snow for the second time!

* * *

I could only watch on from afar in horror, fearing that blow did her in as Cindy continued to attempt her hack... But were we too slow...? "No...!"

* * *

Knuckles could feel his eyes tremble under a wide-eyed scowl. His body trembled and his thoughts screamed at him to step in- to break every bot in sight- to rip the bear in two! ... But one false move and the hostages would die. He growled to himself and cursed. "Why did I let her fight?! I should be doing this!"

... A small laugh came from the pink mobian, much to the echidna's surprise. Again, Amy rose... And she looked just fine. She shook the snow from her head and smirked over at him. "What did I say before?"

Knuckles just didn't understand what he was seeing... "Amy...? How are you...?"

* * *

Of course, I couldn't hear a thing they were saying, but I still sighed in relief when Amy pulled herself from the ground. I then proceeded to watch with unblinking eyes to see what came next, all while Cindy worked. Yet, as I glared out at the action, it wasn't directed at anyone there... I was angry at myself for being totally helpless... "I can't stand waiting around like this..."

* * *

The bear simply stared at her in disbelief, outraged by the fact that she wasn't unconscious... "I felt her bones crack..."

She got up, dusting herself and her dress off. "I'll put it this way." Flashing a wink and a smile over at the red devil, she said, "This guy can't hit hard enough to take me down~. Remember what I told you T'symel told me?"

The echidna blinked, then looked down as he cocked a brow, thinking... And then it hit him, eyes wide. "The ring...!" It was healing her wounds and making it impossible to keep her down.

The pink hedgehog knelt down and picked up her hammer, then grinned tauntingly out to the polar bear. "That one really hurt, y'know! How does mine feel?"

The bear only glared at her, obviously unnerved by the way he shuddered ever so slightly. He finally said, "I can't feel... One of the many blessings of having such a body."

She glared right back and scoffed. "Yeah, let's see about that." She flipped the hammer in her hand, then leaned forward before dashing off at high speed toward the bear!

Moving into a defensive stance, the white bear moved his metallic arm into a guarding position!

That was when the pink hedgehog moved to his damaged side and struck from there!

Surprised, the bear moved to guard, but his leg seized on the spot, much to his alarm! "Gih!" It looked like she jammed the joint with that one hit! The framework finally failed as he attempted to move!

He just barely managed to stop the blow with his hand, but he wasn't able to do anything about her rebound! As her hit connected with his palm, she used the bounced momentum and redirected her swing with a spin, nailing the bot in the back and crushing the metals like glass! The robot stumbled forward on his broken leg, effectively stunned! Event as he tried to turn, his damages wouldn't let him!

That was when Amy swung again with all of her might and a roaring scream! The bear could only watch in shock as his situation suddenly became hopeless.

As the hammer connected and broke the metal framework of his arm next, the blow also sent the bear over onto his side! A thud to the ground drew an alarmed grunt as he attempted to recover, only to be slammed by the hammer again! This time, the entire arm was broken off, much to his shock!

Amy seized that moment and reeled back with her hammer as her opponent struggled to gain any such balance back! A body blow lands next, crunching the plating on his stomach and making him fall over again! Crushing blow after crushing blow rendered the robot unable to recover. She'd done exactly what she told him she would. She'd broken him in every way... aside from taking his life.

Panting through exasperated breathing, Amy's swings stopped as she held her hammer high above her head, glaring down at his head as her final target...

She'd broken him to bits, effectively, his chest and one arm all that was still intact. Still, he held a defiant glare in his eyes. "... Even now, as you think you've won, your victory is temporary at best. You've yet to grasp all that I have become. Finish me, as you must. Yet hesitate and the suffering will still follow."

Amy growled and took her swing, letting her hammer come down! ... ... ... Yet, she stopped, a mere in away from destroying the mobian bot's head... She furrowed her brows, a shiver running through her body and making her unsteady. "W-why...?! Why can't I-I do it...?!" There was a very fine difference between the bear and the badniks... One used to be flesh and blood...

He never flinched, feeling that somehow, she didn't have it in her to end his life. "... Still yet a child too afraid to take the steps toward her ideals. Foolish really... Then you leave me with a terrible task. And I won't hesitate."

The Moto-bugs holding the mobians hostage all began to charge up their shots. The children hugged tighter to each other.

As a special sort of salt, just as Amy looked back in chilled horror to see the bots getting ready to execute their captives, a first generation soldier bot ripped the hod from off of the father's head, finally stirring him to opened his eyes to stare at Amy, confused about what was going on.

He was a pure white Arctic Fox. Even his hair was snow white in the tuft that sat upon his head between large fox ears. He was far more defined in facial features than I was, mainly due to age difference. The fur around his neck was thick enough to be his own scarf, making one wonder about why he'd even need the coat. The nose of his face was black.

"Fire," came the Bear's command.

And the barrel came to press hard into the back of the father's head, much to his wide-eyed horror.

Amy quickly found her nerve again and lifted her hammer high, but even before she swung her hammer, the Badniks all suddenly spasmed violently, the moto-bugs' charged shots dissipating.

Knuckles looked around in a surprised confusion, watching as every bot's eyes turned to pure static. Then, their eyes shut off and turned black... A moment passed before they fell over around him and Amy with loud, metallic, thuds and the like, unmoving.

Even the ones that had been holding the father fell over atop him, much to his shrieking surprise as he ended up nearly buried!

As they all lied there, motionless around her, the pink hedgehog stared around, shaking from the task she had committed to... The bear's head was now in pieces beneath her hammer's own head. She looked at the hostages... and smiled a little, tearing up. "I-I made it...? Good..." Her voice was a little broken up, like her throat was dry.

The echidna looked at her and blinked... Then, he looked at the hostages... The children were absolute shivering messes, even though they were unharmed, with four badniks collapsed around them. The father was pushing Badniks off of himself, eyeing the fighters warily. This meant that they were alive... But how?

* * *

"... *sigh* I have successfully shut down every target, Master. And just in time, it seems. Five had suddenly received the kill command."

I sighed out my held breath... "Thank you so much, Cindy... You did amazing."

Her face came back onto the screen and smiled. "As always, Master, I'm ever eager to help you and you friends win the day."

I nodded, getting up from the snow as I dusted myself off of snow flakes. Then, I slipped her back into her sling before I began to spin up my tails and take off. With the danger averted, I took my time flying over to Amy and Knuckles, as well as the three new faces...

* * *

When I got to the scene, Knuckles was busting every badnik to bits with punches or stomps to make sure they stayed down. Amy was talking to the father while his children stayed behind him.

I smiled to know the three of them were saved and my friends were both okay. Descending from the sky, I first got noticed by Knuckles, who turned his attention to me with a grin. "Tails!"

As I landed, Amy, the father and children all watched me. Amy, with a smile. The Father? Well... He looked seemed very on edge and scared. "F-flying fox...! Is it a robot?!"

I winced from the judgement and held up my hands in peace! "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm just a fox!" ... I reconsidered my choice of words upon remembering I was the only one with two tails that I could name... With a sheepish frown, I amended myself. "Well, a fox with two tails that can be used to fly-" I shook my head and groaned before taking a breath and trying again with a smile on my face. "Point is, I'm flesh and blood like you. And these two are my friends," I gestured to Amy and Knuckles with both arms.

The father squinted at me with a suspicious glare. However, Amy tapped him on the shoulder, drawing his cock-eyed attention. She gave him a gentle smile and nodded. "You don't have to worry about us. We didn't come here to harm. We came her to help however we could. We're Freedom Fighters."

At the mention of Freedom Fighters, the man's eyes suddenly lit up. "F-Freedom Fighters!?"

It even made the children come out from behind their father, even if just a little, staring up at Amy in awe.

She gave them a second nod before turning to us and waving us both over.

Knuckles and I looked at each other, then walked over beside Amy. He folded his arms and smiled with a confidence about himself. "You can call me Knuckles."

With a nothing special grin on my face and my tails swishing behind me in a sort of inner rhythm, I spoke. "And I'm Miles Prower, but I really prefer people calling me by my nickname. Tails."

I reached into my sling, grabbing Cindy as I started to pull her tablet out... but Amy suddenly grabbed my wrist. I hummed in question before looking up at her with a confused furrow in my brows. She shook her head. "Hang on. Not just yet." Then, she turned her attention to the surprised father. Her stare took on a sternness, drawing a small hum from the father before his expression blankened. "We... actually have one last member with us, but she actually IS different. If you're too afraid of robots to use your better judgement, we won't even introduce you to her. Though, she'd feel very left out if we did that." His expression became a serious one as she asked, "I'm just gonna ask. Can you handle that?"

He dipped his head and remained silent... Nodding to himself, the fox turned his attention back upon her and sighed through his nose. "With all robots are putting my family through, I can't deny it. I'll be on high alert around her, but I'd rather know who she is." He shrugged. "I don't think it'll change much, but everyone is different. That's what I was taught."

With a furrow-browed smile, Amy took her hand off of mine and let me take Cindy out as she said, "Well, at least you have an open enough mind."

I presented them with Cindy's Tablet as I flipped her screen over to face them as she smiled. "Greetings!"

They all seemed to be genuinely taken aback by her, the father leaning in closer with a nervous smile. "A-ah... A computer?"

She made a flat expression as her eyes blinked... before it turned to a pout. "My word! I'm more than any mere computer! I'm an Artificial Intelligence! I just so happen to be physically limited to the confines of a tablet!"

She went on to mumble to herself as the father seemed to sweat with a disarmed expression on his face. I cleared my throat and added two things. "Her name is Cindy and I should probably tell you that she's the one that shut down all the Badniks."

He AND my friends all seemed to share a look of surprise with that one. Amy especially seemed shell-shocked. Still, The father went on to point at Cindy. "Does that mean... that it was you who saved us?"

She stopped her private rant before blinking, then gave a humble grin and nodded. "Err... Yes. I hacked my way into their systems and caused a forced shut down. I'd explain it in detail, but explaining code and my various abilities would take up quite a bit of our time. I may be likened to explaining color to a color-blind individual."

"I... I-I see..." While the father responded, Amy's mood seemed to take a dive, a frown on her face with her head low. She turned away and shut her eyes, holding an arm.

Neither me nor Knuckles had realized. Nor had the father. The children did, however, seeming to pull out from behind him with curious looks directed at her.

Back to the fox, he cleared his throat and shot us both a grave frown. "I'm glad to know Freedom Fighters, but the truth is that my family is still not all accounted for and my town has suffered this very same threat."

Me, Cindy and Knuckles were taken off guard by that one with alarm across our faces as I pulled Cindy away. Amy turned to look at the father with a wide-eyed frown.

The father sighed out in a long breath... then looked at us all. "My name is Chase." He gestured to each of his children one after the other as he named them and they took off their hoods. "These are my children: Holland and Cassandra."

Holland was like his father, an Arctic Fox with similar facial features to his father's. His hair was shorter and silver in color, but it seemed to grow further down the back of his head than his father's, fading in shades every inch. His eyes were round and lively, blue as the ocean. As for facial features, he had a face sorta like I used to have when I was his age, but he pulled that off more. Probably cuter. That has to be it. He was quite a bit shorter than me, meaning that he could also have been quite a bit younger. He wouldn't stop looking at Knuckles with an admiring, but shy smile.

Now, Cassandra, on the other hand. She was a quite a bit different. She was still a fox, but her fur was a lighter shade of golden yellow, kinda like mine but brighter. Her darker golden-blonde hair curved close around her face and head plentifully, almost seeming to hug it. The bangs were swept to the sides of her face. The same blue eyes her brother had, but hers were bigger. She was ever so slightly shorter than her brother. She was looking at me with a curious stare.

Back to the father, he went on to explain his situation. "I have lived with my family on this island for quite a few years now. Ever since Holland was born, in fact. This place has had it's share of difficulties in the past faced by your very fighters... until they left to fight along side their brothers and sisters in the events two months ago... The badniks would come and, to their credit, they had trained many of us to fight them. Those of us that could fight, that is... It seemed to be enough for two weeks..." He bowed his head into his hand, massaging his forehead. "But soon after that, attacks became extremely organized seemingly out of nowhere. I heard that Eggman was gone, but... if that's the truth, then they grew a new head to replace him."

Removing his face from his hand, he looked at us with a dull expression. "They attacked recently with a large group of badniks and..." He looked down to the near totally destroyed remains of the roboticized bear. "He was one of the leaders of what they call the Metal Legion..." That shook me as I tried to keep calm and let the man speak, but I couldn't help a shaky breath, which Amy noticed. She seemed to understand why, judging by her grimace. "His name was Coal McFoster. He and the one above him. When they came around, two roboticized Mobians none of our fighters could handle, everything started falling apart. The town was no longer safe. They could only be stalled for so long... while they took our people."

A shiver ran up my spine, drawing an involuntary gasp from my open mouth. I was all too familiar with abduction methods. Instead of killing anyone, Robotnik always enslaved them by turning them into roboticized soldiers or servants. I suddenly asked, "How many have been taken...?"

He looked at me with a frown... "Well... Every fighter is gone, now. That alone is fifty. But without any of the original fighters, we had to fend for ourselves or totally abandon our homes. I think you can tell what happened... The mayor made the assertion, since the badniks and their leaders have been quiet for the last week... "Run while you can, if you value your freedom. This may be the only chance we get before they come to leech us dry." ...That's what he said." He made this miserable grimace. "It was all a ruse... They wanted to scare us out and they did. I can't think that, with how many there were before, that my family and I were the only ones caught by them."

"... I'm afraid that you have guessed correctly, sir," Cindy told him, much to his shock and ours. We all stared down at her as I held her. She was displaying a heavy concentration of red signatures on a map of the island to the west of our current location on the side of it's small mountain range's far side. There were sparse few green dots almost hidden within all the reds. Of course there were many other red dotted areas, but not literally painted red like this. "I have located the most likely location for their base of operations. However... The number is simply as great as you see. And they have captured MANY, I surmise, being there are hardly any roaming green signatures..."

I could feel my fur bristle a bit from the sight... I shook my head and swallowed as softly as I could... That was a full fledged army... And now, their ranks were bolstered by roboticized mobians with more on their way to becoming them... This situation... How did we let it build to this...?! "...Cindy? Contact Bunnie... This is no longer something only three can handle..."

"I already have..." A flicker from her screen brought up her face as she looked at me with a business expression. "Bunnie and I are speaking at this very moment. Do you wish to join the conversation?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Please patch me in."

Her face took up residence in the left side of the monitor as a cursor hand reached passed the right boundary of the screen and dragged out a video call window. It took up the entire right side of the screen. A real time video of Bunnie as she was at this very moment appeared.

The video cut off half of her ears' length and most of her body, but the face was what was important. She was in the Command room, many bright screens in the back of her. "Tails," ask Bunnie, a concerned look on her face.

"How much has already been said," I asked right back. "We don't have time to focus on anything else, so sorry if I sound like I'm in a hurry."

She nodded through a solemn expression. "'Course. Ah got most of it. Ah'm none too proud we missed this. Ya'd think we didn't care. But uh..." She frowned, deeply concerned. "What's all this 'bout Roboticization? How's that possible? Ah though we broke all them darn machines!"

I shook my head with a troubled glare off to the side, staring at the remainder of the bear. "Obviously not... We just got through fighting a roboticized bear by the name of Coal McFoster. No idea who he was, but I guess it doesn't matter now..."

Looking back to her, I saw her folding her arms, nervously biting her lip. "Mgh... This ain't good." She looked up from her thoughts and back at me, licking her lip a bit, as if it were dry. "Just one machine we never knew nuthin' 'bout is bad news. T's not like we ever stopped lookin' fer' um', but even one still gettin' it's uses is jus'..." She shook her head. "An' Cindy. Ya'll 're sayin' almost all the mobians on that there island have been taken, yeah?"

Cindy nodded her head. "Regrettably... Which implies nearly every single one has been either captured or Roboticized... There are only so many left that have not been taken to their most apparent base of operations. The enemy's numbers are many and though the majority could be the weaker drones referred to as Badniks, it is simply too much for three alone to handle, as you can see."

She looked up from us, probably at a seperate screen, as she spoke. "Yeah... Them's the sorta numbers ya'll cain't handle. An' I'mma guess that, since it's all robots, they ain't going down unless ya cut up their roots..." She looked back to me and nodded. "Ah'll send off some standby teams we got in parts 'round there, but Ah'd be lyin' if I said they could be there in less than a day."

I groaned through a frown, my head dipping. "Seriously...?"

"'Fraid so," she confirmed. She frowned right back. "Ah'm sorry, fellas... Iffin' we had a way t' get there lickity-split, ya bet yer' sweet bippy Ah'd use it, but we don't. Yer' just gunna have t' wait t' do anything for-"

"We can't!"

I nearly dropped Cindy as an outraged Chase pushed in on my, alarming all of us as he took hold of Cindy and turned her screen toward himself, much to her complaints. "My wife is getting taken there right now, as we speak! If we wait, they'll have her and who knows how long they wait to roboticize people!" All of this was already drawing Bunnie's alarm as she stood there with wide eyes and Chase pulled in even closer to the screen, down right hysterical! "You're freedom fighters, aren't you?! You're supposed to be heroes! I'm begging you to be here faster! She and my neighbors! My friends! My family!"

She shook her head and glared at the man with an abrupt growl! "We ARE gonna help! But what you're askin' fer' ain't possible! We ain't got the coverage fer' no instant reaction! How many ya think 're in the Freedom Fighters?! The whole world?!" Chase grunted as if he'd been punched, backing off from the screen. He simply stared, startled and sweating. She just went on. "Lots uh' people thinkin' they can jus' call for help an'- BOOM!- instant action'd be taken! That's that there sorta thing they go 'round thinkin' we're all 'bout able t' do! But we ain't! We got A lot! Not LOTS! That lot can only get 'round so many places! an' bein' there weren't 'nuff to go 'round, we cain't get someone over t' everywhere like white lightnin'! Ya don't just magically say no magical words an' up pops n' army uh' fighters for yer' troubles! And we cain't know everything, no matter how hard we try!"

By the time she was done, Chase was a shivering mess. His hands went to his face and he began to sob. "I-I just... I-I can't.. d-do anything...! A-a-and it's driving me MAD! I wanna save h-er myself... but... But I'm just...! I'm WEAK!" He collapsed to his knees and began to full on cry...

Amy looked at the man with a frown. She tried to approach him and give him at least SOME comfort, but the children stepped in front of their father with angry glare and outstretched arms! Holland screamed, "Stop it! Don't bully daddy! He didn't do anything to you!"

The girl nodded. "That's right! He only wants mommy back! That's not a bad thing!" She looked up at me and frowned. "Mr. Miles, can't you do anything? You're a kid like us, right? You'd want your mommy back, right...?"

I couldn't help but frown, even though I knew Bunnie had the ground of sense. And there was one other thought no one bothered to bring up. Roboticization was reversible. It wasn't permanent. The cold way to put this? Any transformation could be undone after the fighting... but there were risks with that sort of thinking... The risk was voiced by the fact that there was a victim lying in pieces only a few feet away. Someone we could have saved is gone forever after they are broken. There's nothing that can be done at that point... I sighed and rubbed the back of my head out of stress.

"Tails?"

I looked down at Bunnie's video call window. She shook her head. "Ya'll can't do nuthin' alone. That's too dangerous. Don't you e-ven think about."

... Too late. My eyes closed for a moment as I looked up from the call... The icy air was refreshing enough to get my head racing with ideas. One in particular might work... I opened my eyes, but didn't bother looking back down at Bunnie. The instead looked at Amy, who was frowning. She mouth, "please." ... Looks like she couldn't take waiting either. I nodded with resolve. "Bunnie. You just focus on calling in our help. And sorry. Cindy. Cut the call."

"MILES, DON-" Bunnie's voice cut off, signalling that Cindy did just what I told her to.

Amy smiled a bit guiltily through furrowed brows.

I smiled back, before turning to Knuckles. He seemed intense, but I wasn't shaken by it... Eventually, he grinned. "I'm not the waiting type anyway. You just better have a damn good plan. That's all I'll say."

With a nod, I turned to look at the father and his children. "Well, Sonic always did crazy things, so I guess that we're gonna have to be every bit as crazy. We'll save your wife, Chase. AND everyone else they've taken."

Chase immediately looked up is disbelief from his wet hands, his face a mess of tears and eyes a bit red. We simply smiled. It may have been a bit pathetic... but he bowed on his hands and knees, thanking us between sobs, then said, "... J-just... I jus' don't want to lose h-her... *sniff* P-please, save h-her... Save my wife... I'll be h-happy... if you can do even just that..."

Amy walked up in front of him and took a knee, gingerly placing a hand on the fox's back. "Can you please tell us her name? Maybe what she looks like?"

After a moment of collecting himself, Chase pulled himself together, wiping his tears with his wrist. He got up and looked down at me, still a bit weak from the crying. "Sh-she... Her name is Alice. A fox like all of us. Has fur like your's and my daughter's. Her hair is the same gold as her's as well, but her eyes are pale like ice. Many mistake her for being blind."

I nodded, then turned to my friends. "She's the main objective, but we're going to save everyone that we can. One won't be enough."

The echidna nodded, along with the hedgehog. "I couldn't agree more."

"That means that the both of you need to practice restraint."

Amy had bowed her head, a frown on her face. "Right..."

Knuckles cocked a brow, however, head tilted while he stared at her. He was about to ask something, but stopped as he seemed to understand, groaning and holding his face. "Oh. Yeah, I guess we can't just break ém all."

Nodding in the satisfaction of seeing that they both understood, I turned to look at the father with a smile. "You can count on us, Chase. We may not look it, but Amy and I are some of the oldest members, service time in mind. And Knuckles here is just one of the best fighters, period."

And upon hearing that, he went to say something, but stopped... Closing his mouth and looking us over again, the older fox's eyes grew wide. "Wait. You're THAT Tails? Best friend to Sonic?!"

I blinked a bit at that, then made a sheepish grin, my tails lashing about behind me.

While the cat was out of the bag and we did spend a few more minutes than planned getting praised, he made sure not to keep us long. Still. Amy got called the Hammer Valkerie, because that's what people around the world called her, I guess. Her reaction was one of flattery. As for Knuckles, his Brotherhood of Guardians got lumped in as Freedom Fighters! He set that one straight pretty strongly. As for Cindy, he complimented her as well, surprisingly enough. It seemed like he wasn't totally gone from liking at least SOME synthetic beings.

By the time that was all done with, the older fox dipped his head, even though he seemed in higher spirits. He sighed and furrowed his brows, shaking his head as his smile became half-hearted. "... I wish that I could go with the four of you... I can't really do anything, though..."

I frowned a little, feeling bad for the guy. He really did want to help. I understood that feeling. It's not easy sitting and waiting... but with everyone on the island pretty much captured, there was little he could do. "I'm sorry. But we need you to find somewhere secluded and safe to hide. We can't put you or your children in danger. That wouldn't be right."

Chase seemed to understand, sighing. "Alright..." He put his hands on his children's heads as they looked up at him. The older fox smiled warmly. "You two are great at hiding. Think you could finally show me where that super secret hide-out of your's is? It'll be our little secret."

They both smirked as Holland piped up and said, "Yeah, okay! But you owe us big time!" Cassandra seemed to nod in agreement.

After that, the family walked off in the direction of a shallow forest, who's branches were shed of their leaves...

As we watched them go, Amy stepped up with a big smile on her face, before I began to rub my chin in thought. She asked, "So. What's the plan, Tails?"

Indeed... What plan did I have that would 1. save all of the captive mobians, 2. make it so we didn't kill any of the roboticized mobians, and 3. allow us to defeat an army that paints a BIG RED SPLOTCH on the side of a mountain? "Well, first we have to wait a bit. The tornado needs at least an hour to have a comfortable amount of fuel for the trip. Otherwise, we'd be walking for hours." I took Cindy in both hands, looking at her blank expression on screen. "Cindy. Are there any microbots we can use to get a good look at what we're up against?"

Her screen flashed to a loading window as she spoke. "One moment... Mmmh... I am able to grant us one view, but it's only of the smaller concentration of red flowing to and from the larger mass." An image flashed onto the screen and made us all bulge at the eyes. This was the smaller concentration and it looked like what we just beat here, at least in numbers. The bad part? Robo-mobians were mixed in...

I took a breath, closing my eyes. It's funny how this entire time, we weren't freezing our butts off. But it made sense. Things like this were making it hard to acknowledge. "This is gonna be difficult. We all know that. But I think my plan will work. Cindy proved how possible it is with these badniks." I gestured around us at the mostly trashed bots. "Still..." I sweat a little. "If this plan were any crazier, I'd swear it came from Sonic himself."

How would this go? There was only really one way to find out...

* * *

 _ **Okaaaay! That! Was a doozy!**_

 _ **Things are getting crazier and the stakes have just been raised through the roof! What will happen next? That can't be said in a few paragraphs. It's about time things got serious and boy oh boy, ain't this a way to do it? ouo; I won't lie. I'm a little intimidated. Not everything about the next chapter is clear in my head, yet. The enemy, the location and the scenery are abundantly clear, but not how I'm going to handle it.**_

 _ **That in mind, next event's gonna be two-to-three chapters long. We've finally reached the next big one. I'm rather proud of that fact. It felt like I'd never make it this far. But here we are. I finally got to cut loose a bit, too.**_

 _ **With all of that said, I believe I'll be taking a bit longer with these chapters. I want to get them right.**_

 _ **Now for the things that weren't addressed in this chapter, but were introduced last chapter. I didn't forget. However, everything else was more important in the moment. Next chapter will talk about these things.**_

 _ **That said, I hope this chapter itself was enjoyable. ^^; I was sadly low on energy during the after battle dialogue, so I may go back and re-describe some expressions. I don't like it when there are too many of the same emotive expression used in the same place. So! If anyone sees that I did so, I'd love to be made aware.**_

 _ **As I am currently falling asleep in my chair, I very much believe I'll cut this short.**_

 _ **As always, thank you for reading! If you like what you read, please tell me in a review! I want to give you guys what you like!**_

 _ **See you all later~!**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **Ah. By the way. ;) If you spot it, lucky you. I placed something in this chapter as a bit of a nod. Whether it becomes something... We'll see. But it won't be important for quite a while, yet. Just a little something something I wanted to do.**_

 _ **Kay~. Bye~.**_


	14. Chapter 14: Into The Hive

After we got done destroying the remaining badniks- still shut down- and we got back to the plane, an hour long wait awaited us. Still. It would be spent inside the confines of the cockpit, canopy once again provided by Cindy. Knuckles wasn't a fan of the squeeze, but it was better than catching cold right before we went on our mission.

Still, the wait was not empty.

On her side of the seat, Amy pondered to herself in boredom while thrumming her fingers along the glass. She couldn't do anything with her legs to get comfortable, because of the shared seat.

As for Knuckles, he just sat there with an awkward stare on his face, kinda huddled up to himself. I don't believe he was even thinking about anything but that word. Awkward.

Finally, I was deep in thought, staring at the fuel bar as it twitched ever so slightly in the direction of the F, already back out of the red. I couldn't stop thinking about Metal Legion this, plan that, what we might see, etc. It was monotony at it's finest with barely any let up...

After about ten straight minutes, Knuckles finally broke the silence, having seemed to snap out of that mile-long stare of his. He looked at the back of my seat. A nod from his head later, he spoke up. "Since we have time to wait around, don't you think we should talk about what we know? Y'know... Compile facts?"

It was jarring to me to hear Knuckles talk SENSE, but he was right. Still, it made me blink a little in confusion. I turned around and stared at him through purely awestruck surprise.

He squinted and raised his brows. "What...?"

Even Amy was similarly surprised, to his annoyance. "What?!"

The pink hedgehog cut me off with the same thing I was gonna say. "How did THAT come from YOU?"

I could almost see the fumes leaving the echidna's annoyed head. Crossing his arms with an irritated "pff", he changed the subject. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Look. We need to discuss the big elephant of a problem here. Roboticizations have returned and it's pretty obvious how. Someone either found a machine that wasn't broken or built a new one. That or there is some other way to do it, now."

After recovering from the initial shock of a healthy thought process from Knuckles, I climbed up atop my chair and leaned myself over it. "Yeah, I've been wondering about that for a while now. The roboticization machines weren't many, but they were cleverly hidden. It's possible we missed some. Two months isn't nearly long enough to scour the globe. Maybe key locations, but we don't know about every base Eggman has ever had. just the big ones." Leaning my head on a hand for support, I looked off above us at the slowly darkening sky. The sun was setting, making the sky look half orange and gradually darker blue. "Thing is, though, that there is a problem with that line of thinking, too. Because we haven't seen roboticized citizens of any kind for a while."

"It's possible they were all cured, but it's also very possible that we missed some and they just hid from us until now. And then, we don't know what happened to Wily or any of Eggman's other allies. Heck, we don't even know what happened to Eggman. It's reasonable to believe that Wily ended up the same way or in the same place as Eggman and Sonic, but any number of things are possible."

With that, Amy nodded. "But enough about that," she said. With a serious and concerned look on her face, she changed the subject. "We need to talk about how the badniks we just fought didn't have any animals inside of them. Every single one was empty!"

With that, our red echidna squinted before he nodded with a hum. "Yeah... I noticed that, actually."

Having looked back down at them with a genuinely surprised stare, I sweat. "...Th-they were... empty?" I felt the side of my head with a hand, wiping the sweat away. Not only did that just occur to me, but I never even realized. How had I not noticed?

The pink hedgehog stared at me with a confused look on her face. "Wait, you never realized?" Hesitation stalled me for a moment, but I did nod. She seemed a little concerned by that. "But weren't you fighting them, too? How did you never notice?"

I didn't have an answer for that... It made me feel oblivious and stupid, but it never occurred to me. I never even thought to make sure the animals were released after I took an enemy down. Shaking my head a bit, I then clear my throat and focused on Amy. "A-anyway... That must mean that they had a different power source. One that can serve just as well for them as animal batteries..."

Holding my chin, I thought aloud, deep in thought. "Does that mean that they use a new power source or the old one? It's definitely possible to power any of them with First Generation Robotnik Batteries. And if you ask me, that was a more efficient battery than the Animal Batteries ever were. But then, why go back to that all of the sudden? Could have been something else. I never bothered to look is the problem."

With an annoyed frown, I leaned my chin in my arms. "That's annoying, but it means that someone is definitely responsible for making a new series of Badnik out of old concepts."

Amy blinked at my one-sided conversation with myself, then asked, "Should we go back?"

"Huh?" I looked at her with a momentary stare, then oh'd and smiled a little. "Naw, there's no need. We already know all that would have been useful. A new power source just means that we can go to town on badniks as hard as we want, because there aren't any living creatures inside."

Both of my friends nodded at that.

With that subject ended, there was the final subject that came into my mind. With a troubled expression on my face, I felt the back of my neck with a hand and spoke. "Now... There's the fact that we now know there's a new enemy out there. One that thinks Roboticization is justified and ideal for all life. The Metal Legion..."

Upon broaching the subject, both fighters' eyes focused upon me.

"It racks my brain to think that anyone could believe being a robot is some greater life. But it gives me a headache thinking that these same people are so convinced of this that they would force it upon someone else. That, along with an enemy that's hijacked a large portion of badniks, is enough to class as a major threat. And now, that same enemy has enslaved nearly every mobian native to this island!" Holding my head, I glared at the floor and my friends' feet. "I mean, what did Sonic fight for?! These people are doing their best to ruin whatever success we had! It makes me so angry!"

"Tails, calm down," Knuckles told me. I looked up to face the echidna, who seemed calm and collected. "It's not gonna last. We're here and we're gonna make sure of that, right?"

I just stared at him for a moment. "He's quite right, Master," Cindy spoke up. I turned around to look at her. She smiling a bit, despite what she knew about our situation. "We are two of the greatest minds in the Freedom Fighters, if I may claim to be one myself even though I AM an A.I., and two of the strongest fighters the world has ever seen. Though we are indeed only four, we've personally seen how much we can do. Lady Amy and Sir Knuckles destroyed approximately two dozen badniks on their own and Amy defeated a being known as a leader of sorts within this Metal Legion. They would have routed the enemy in it's entirety unassisted, had this Coal not intervened and taken hostages. Not only that, but we dealt with our fair share of the enemy's drones and your flying skills seem to be steadily improving."

With a nod, she went on to claim, "We may not be the most specialized, but the tasks we do cover are, in no small way, well taken care of."

As much sense as Cindy was making, there was a flaw in her logic when my plan came in. I nodded, either way, then followed up with what I had to say as I relaxed. "Good points, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. I never said that my plan was one about fighting our way through. That's just asking for trouble."

Everyone seemed taken off guard a bit by this, exchanging confused glances, the A.I. included. She returned her blank gaze to me before she asked, "Then, you plan an infiltration?"

I nodded before smacking my fist into my other hand. "Exactly. If it wasn't for the fact that there could be tons of mobians that are roboticized and brainwashed, I'd be okay with going in all guns blazing, but we aren't dealing with just any enemy force. I fully expect a large sum of who we see to be roboticized victims. We can't go in expecting we can just destroy them. After they're destroyed, that's it."

"Yeah," Amy agreed with a nod. "There's no way I'd wanna fight them anyway." With a frown, she grew quiet. "I mean... It didn't... feel good to... _*mumble*_ "

I stared at her with a confused look on my face, tilting my head. Likewise did Knuckles raise his brow at her. "Come again?"

She looked at the both of us with a pause... Then she groaned as she curled up on the seat, arms around her legs and face buried in both. Her position made Knuckles complain as he squirmed around a bit. "I said that it didn't feel good to kill that guy..." And of course her words were muffled.

My eyes squinted as I leaned in on her and turned my head, flicking my ear. "One more time."

"Oh, for the love of," she muffled. Snapping her head up from her curled up limbs, she yelled, "I SAID, it didn't feel good killing that guy!"

I immediately flinched back and massaged my now ringing ear, whining. "Ow..."

The hedgehog frowned before her face went right back to hiding in her arms and legs. "Sorry..."

Getting done rubbing my ear, I propped myself up on my elbows and spoke. "Amy, I know you don't like the concept of taking life, but in that situation, it was either him or most of Chase's family, including Chase himself. You had to."

She pulled her face up and shook her head. "Are you kidding me? Cindy was the one that saved them. If it weren't for her, I would have gotten them killed because I hesitated too long... I didn't save ANYONE..."

"Oh hogwash!"

She raised her head up, blinking through her frown as she asked, "Cindy?"

I turned to look over at a disapproving Cindy's face. "I couldn't have done any of what I had alone! If it were not for you, Lady Amy, my efforts would have been for naught!"

Her expression soften through a slight frown. "I can't imagine I would have been quick enough to shut the drones down, had you not been occupying them at the very least through your fight. Also, the bear could have easily turned them right back on after I shut them down, had you not... dispatched him..."

She smiled passed me and my seat at Amy, though she actually couldn't see her with her current position in the dash. "You were invaluable to my task and, indeed, I could hardly have done it without your help! You were invaluable to saving their lives!"

Furrowing her brows as she came back to that part of the subject, she continued to smile, despite how she understood the situation. "And... I am fully aware you detest killing... Though, it is very good that you feel as you do about it. The concept of taking life seems dirty enough as it is without some deranged fool getting pleasure from it all... I know this does not change how you feel now, having done it... but I hope my words at least have granted you even slight solace..."

Amy took a moment to herself, despite all eyes being on her... Eventually, she uncurled herself and let a small smile curve her mouth, sighing... "I... Thank you, Cindy. Really... Sometimes, it's hard to believe that you are what you are... but I guess I could say that about Nicole, too... You're a great friend, Cin..."

"Cin...?" The A.I. blinked a few times as she repeated that nickname to herself... With a chuckle, she shook her head. "Umm... Sorry, but let's not go with that nickname~. It seems a bit... edgy? Cin? Sin? No thank you~."

Amy made a slight pout with her lips. "Dangit."

I could help but smile at it all, shaking my head. "These guys," I whispered under a sigh.

For the remainder of the hour, we went over possible strategies we'd need to use, much to Knuckles's reluctance to pay attention. I had to hammer a few into his thick head just to make them stick. Some were important.

After that, we started up the plane's engine as Cindy materialized a wire-frame hand and spun up the propeller. Slipping my goggles on for personal comfort, I began to run the plane through the rough run-way that was the snow. Seeing that we couldn't gain much speed, I deployed the forward water landing gear so that it flattened the snow even just a little bit so that passing over it was smoother. That did the trick as the plane picked up speed and began to lift from the ground. I pulled up and away, taking to the air and pulling us up into the sky soon after!

Soaring through the air, we were easily able to clear the mountain range within a few minutes. I looked at Cindy as she displayed the radar again... It was to the right of us. A huge concentration of nearly solid red. No green was visible, but we were on the wrong side for any to appear. It was just that big of an area. When I first glanced to my right, I had to squint as light blinded me... but I couldn't have been looking at the sun. I didn't know why, but there was a great, shimmering wall of some kind in the mountains blinding me a bit. It appeared to be reflecting sunlight. "What- ugh... wha- ...!" My eyes grew wide when we were at a different angle where the glare died... "W-what in the world...?!"

I was horrified and neither Knuckles nor Amy understood why, looking at me as they somewhat stood up. They looked at each other, but this meant that Amy saw it next, much to her jaw-dropped, gasping shock, pointing passed Knuckles.

He whirled around immediately, then just as quickly gasped and leaned in on the window. "Wh-what?! How did they build that?!"

It bore a structural resemblance to a place from my deepest darkest memories, yet it wasn't the one. Robotnik Citadel... The dark, metal structure and chromed finish were what gave me the vivid recall, but the structure itself was vastly different. Far bigger and nearly taking up a fifth of the entire mountain range. Speaking of, the massive castle was mounted directly TO the mountain range by it's side and underbelly, the tallest of many towers sitting on the mountain-hugged wall. It almost looked like a tower "grew" wherever the mind could imagine, due to it's bizarre design. On side of the surrounding walls itself, too. That meant that every side was covered and watched. It was almost inconceivable to approach the place by land, unless you climbed it's very walls, which had to reach at least two hundred feet up, because there was no level enough ground at the foot. In the center of the walls, the main body was almost obscured. You could definitely see a sort of city within. Below that aforementioned tallest tower was a large, vast, governmental-type building that took inspirations from Greek designs.

The place was not only imposing in size. There were tons of badniks and/or roboticized mobians patrolling the structure and the sky above it in patrol cars and other hovercrafts specialized with laser turrets. If it weren't for our distance, this may well have turned into a battle we didn't want to fight...

I just stared at the castle for the longest time, very unnerved by the simple fact that it was no trick of the light or even my imagination. My sight began to take on tunnel vision and I felt myself sweat. The memories were flooding in without want nor desire. It was like someone pulled the entire drawer of a filing cabinet out and letting every last file come spilling out. You don't want to see everything, but you don't have a choice if you want to keep it all organized...

The screaming, the bodies of friends or acquaintances being transformed into metal-made parts with entirely different minds from whom they used to be, Uncle Chuck before we de-roboticized him and yes... even Robotnik's grinning, towering figure... More and more of our terrible past was rushing through my mind... I began to have hot flashes as nerve after nerve inflamed...

... I don't directly remember what happened next, but you can guess... I passed out. Cindy ended up having to make an emergency landing. It happened to be upon a small plateau just large enough to land and take off from.

When I came back around, I cracked my eyes open with a near silent moan... before I remembered where I was and what I was previously doing with a gasp! Sitting up from my slump in my seat, I looked around the plane in a panic, taking a hasty hold of the stick... but... I quickly realized we had not been in the air. Not only that, but upon looking around and starting to calm down, I realized the plane was empty, aside from Cindy, who was looking at me in smiling relief.

She sighed and said, "Finally, you've awoken..."

I sat there with this furrow in my brows and a confused frown. "W-what...? What happened?" Looking behind me at the empty seat, I once again confirmed it was empty and asked, "Where are Amy and Knuckles?"

"You passed out soon after you saw the enemy stronghold." I turned back around, still standing in my seat unconsciously. She wore a frown with her "head" lowered a bit. "Amy is just outside the plane acting as guard, though Knuckles is patrolling the perimeter to make certain we do not get ambushed."

And yet again, I felt more a burden than a help... I frowned and bowed my head, sighing as I held my face. "What is WRONG with me? I feel so pathetic. Fainting just because I saw something vaguely similar..."

The A.I. blinked into a neutral expression. "I beg pardon? Similar to what, Master?"

I faced her with a discomforted grimace, but immediately went back to frowning when I recalled it. That place... "Robotnik's Citadel. Castle Acorns after he had his way with it... The way the castle was designed looked every bit like his handy work... Which means there's a real chance that he's responsible for what we just found..." Looking off to the side, I just shook my head. "But that I fainted from just seeing that... I just can't believe how bad I've gotten... I need to be mentally stronger than this for myself and the others. If I keep letting stuff like this happen, then I might as well have stayed home..."

"Oh Master..."

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes for a moment... then breathed it out. Re-opening my lids, I smiled a little. "It's okay. I'm okay. I just need to get stronger."

She nodded with a reluctant smiled. "Understandable. Though, as I've stated many times in many forms, don't be so harsh upon yourself, Miles."

I nodded. "Wanna drop the canopy? We should let Amy know I'm okay."

With a returned nod, she let the canopy flash and disintegrate into particles of blue. Amy, who was out on the left side of the parked plane and standing in the snow with hammer in hands, whipped around in surprise to hum at the plane curiously. She smiled when she saw me stood up on the seat, taking Cindy out of the dash and slipping her into her sling. "Tails!"

I hopped out into the snow next to her with a short spin of my tails to slow my descent, then smiled up at her while slipping my hood on. "Good..." I quickly looked up at the sky to make sure of the time of day. It was basically night and the stars had come out. Looking back to her with a sheepish grin, I tried again. "Uuuh, goodnight, Amy! Sorry about fainting like that."

She shook her head with a sigh, brows furrowed as she planted her hammer to the ground and leaned. "Next time, I'm gonna wake you up with this baby. No more sleeping at the stick. You had us worried."

With a nod, my next act was to look around for our knuckle-headed echidna... and of course see him nowhere within my line of sight. "Think Knucklehead will be back soon?"

"He's back now, fox-brain,"came his voice as I immediately stiffened up.

The red echidna flipped over the plane from the other side and landed down in front of the two of us. Turning and looking at us with a stern stare, he folded his arms, as per usual lately. "We've been pretty clear so far, considering we're just a few mountains away from a big bad's doorstep."

"It was that, or we'd be turning back to land about where we'd come from," Cindy admonished. "Besides, this is also a great place to be, if you recall the favorable location we sit atop."

At that, he nodded once again. "Fair enough." He pointed behind himself, meaning for us to follow as he turned and began to walk to the edge of the plateau's descent.

With a curious look on my face, I followed close behind with Amy heading up the rear.

When we got there, He pointed down the ridge, causing me to looked down and take notice of this slim, flat trail running the middle of the mountain all the way across several others to the Castle in the distance. The sound of an engine down below made me look right back below me and take notice of a large convoy of sorts hovering the path. It was accompanied by several others of it's kind, all with enclosed trailers... I was already getting the picture, but Knuckles flat out said it. "That trail leads from a mining zone all the way back to that castle. That means we can definitely get in from the ground."

I continued his though with a determined glare. "Stow away on one of those trucks without being detected and make our way into the place from there. Pretty straight forward, but we're not exactly invisible after we make it in. Even if we get into a trailer without being seen, we still need a way of making sure nothing else inside catches us."

Amy sighed and shook her head with an annoyed glare on her face. The whole situation was a headache. "And just how are we supposed to do that?"

"I hate to keep resorting to the same thing but," I pat Cindy's sling, looking at the pink hedgehog. "Our enemy is still a machine. They have programs and coding flags to tell them what to attack. interfere with that and they can't do a thing. And we're gonna need to rely on that if we want to do this without hurting any mobians."

"I hear a lot of "avoid hurting roboticized mobians"..." We both looked at Knuckles, who looked skeptical with the squint of his eyes. "... But exactly how do we turn them back into normal flesh and blood again, if we actually plan on it?"

And there was the question I couldn't possibly hold the exact answer to. I looked down and thought for one, holding my chin. "... I can't really say how we'll do that. It's gonna rely on what we learn while we're in the castle. They have to have a Roboticizer, but where it is and how well guarded, we can bank on it being somewhere close to their leader and under constant watch, lock and key. There's no way they'd leave that out in the open for us to use. And it's not the quietest piece of machinery ever. Really, I can't plan for anything like de-roboticization, Knuckles. We just don't have the means or time for that. All we can hope to do at the very most is free their latest captives..."

The reality seemed to hit the echidna and hedgehog pretty hard. Knuckles came to curse under his breath. Amy seemed to just frown and sigh, closing her eyes.

With a quick shake of his head, Knuckles threw a stern glare my way. "If that's all we can do, why did you tell Chase we'd save EVERYONE?" There was obvious anger laced throughout that question.

I frowned and looked away. "Think of me what you want for this..." Meeting his eyes with my own, I didn't attempt to butter this up. "... But I told him what he wanted to hear."

He growled in frustration and took a step toward me with a scowl on his face. "So you lied!" Swiping a hand through the air, he grunt before he began to shout at me. "We can't just leave it at that! You saw how many there are! If even half of those are mobians, we have to save them!"

"That's right, I did lie," I spat right back, much to his surprise. I shook my head with a glare, then threw his point right back at him. "So, Knuckles, exactly what amazing and miraculous idea did you have? You made the point that there are tons of robo-mobians that could be there waiting for us, but there are only four of us. Three, if you don't count the one of us that doesn't have a body. I've planned for getting everyone I can out of there. That means every non-roboticized mobian. It all hinges on contingencies, by the way, because there's no way I'll get every single one out after we just pop in, ask nicely and hope to god! Because guess what? The Metal Legion doesn't sound like they'll just give them up! So, you tell me." Folding my arms, I asked, "With what little we know and how few we are, can we really free all of the captives AND de-roboticize every robot mobian in that building, then get back out with every single one alive? Remember that we aren't just fighting badniks anymore and that they are all, more than likely, BRAINWASHED against wanting that."

With all of that, the Echidna became silent, despite his obvious irritated glare. He basically jolted a turn away from me, punching the air as he squeezed his eyes shut. "... I just want to save them all... I can't stand when we have to just do what we can when we might have been able to do so much more...!" He was talking about more than just this mission, I felt.

I shook my head, looking away with a frown. "I do too, Knuckles. It's not like I don't. I just have to be realistic, right now. And even getting every captive out alive is hopeful. If and when something changes so drastically that we can do something here, I will do everything to make it happen." Returning my gaze upon him, I finished. "But for now, there's only room for infiltration and freeing the non-roboticized civilians. Civilians is the key word, here. No way any of the fighters aren't roboticized. They were taken first."

After a moment of silence, he eventually turned back my way, but couldn't bring his eyes to look away from the ground, defeated. "... Fine... I get it. I won't argue further..." Finally looking me in the eye, the echidna's eyes firmed again with renewed resolve. "But remember your words. If we learn there's a way to free everyone, we need to do it."

Of course, I nodded in complete agreement. "Nothing crazy, though. We don't need another missing or gone friend."

* * *

The road below was busy with patrols of flying badniks/robo-mobians and the very convoys we were hoping to stow away onto. It appeared that they were more active as the day was ending, because as the night sky began to take hold, they only grew more frequent in trips and more numerous.

We managed to scale the wall of the mountain above their vision either by climbing as Knuckles always did or flight, courtesy of my own twin spinning tails.

Don't ask how carrying both Cindy and Amy felt after a solid ten minutes or so. Once I touched down on some cliff a few hundred feet up from the mine entrance, I nearly just fell into a heap with Amy, but she caught my body before I could. I smiled up at her thankfully, but my huffing and puffing for air was a bit heavy. "H-haff- I need to r-really hit the gym...!"

Knuckles arrived a minute later, climbing along side us before dropping off the wall and landing beside me. He wasn't even out of breath! He just stood there, surveying the security below. "Hmm... The entrance is swarmed with bots. There's no way we can get in directly. Soo..." He turned to the rock wall before raising his hands. In seconds, his aura collected and formed the familiar shape of shovel claws, but it still remains see-through green, even as it solidified.

Before I could pipe up and warn against the obvious, he began to drive his claws through the mountain wall with intense speed and strength, quickly forming the beginnings of a tunnel as he walked forward!

Both me and Amy were alert and walking behind him as debris flew out of our way and down the mountain! Hope and prayer alone were the only things that saved us from being spotted. Somehow, they neither heard nor saw our digging, at least for the time being.

Following Knuckles extremely closely, he broke through rock, stone, gravel and more as he tunneled down at an angle. It would take us quite a bit of time before that tunnel led us to the side of the cave's vicinity. about a half hour, but without Knuckles, it could have taken days or the time we were that far in, however, all of us were dirty with dust, mineral deposit and other such things.

Amy whined about it, constantly trying to dust her white dress off, but more grime kept getting on it from Knuckle's digging. "Can you just calm down a little, Knucklehead? My dress is gonna get ruined like this!"

To that, he simply shook his head and continued at the same pace, saying, "Should have wore something you wouldn't have regret getting ruined!"

The hedgehog only whined even more before stomping her foot. "Well, excuse me for looking fashionable! Ugh!" She threw her arms into a fold before turning away and standing there, nose in the air.

"Shh!" She jumped a little, as did I, when that sound came from Knuckles's lips and turned back to him.

He had stopped all of the sudden as the gravel started to settle... then held a hand up as he pressed the side of his head to the end of the tunnel.

Me and Amy looked at each other in silence and shrugged.

"Rats," Knuckles spat in a harsh whisper. He took his head off of the wall and began to dig to the left, carefully and less noisily scooping away at the minerals and ore. "We were right beside a few tin-cans. I'm gonna have to tunnel around them."

With a nod, I took out Cindy from her sleeve. "Me and Cindy will help you find a nice, empty spot." Looking down at her, I said, "Cindy, overhead radar, please."

"At once, master." And that was all the time she needed to pull up the radar displaying every enemy on the other side of the right wall beside us.

Though, I didn't really understand the presence of the few light-blue dots, cocking a brow. Five were aligned in a row of what seemed to be on the other side of us a few yards away. "Hey, Cindy? What are these other dots?"

"Convoys, Master Tails."

"You know what they are for sure," I asked with skepticism. "Does that mean you have an inside view of the cave itself?"

"Indeed! It appears that there are microbots in the area that the enemy has not even noticed, meaning that I should be able to give us a clear view of the inside, if you wish it."

I nodded and smirked. "Yes. Please, Cindy."

The screen flashed into a camera view of the inside of the cave. The scene was a bit dark, but it could be made up clearly enough. The cave was dank, brown for the most part, but lined with precious ores and multiple tunnels we'd yet to come into contact with while making our own. Lucky us. Sounds of crunching rock and falling debris were intense, as well. There was good sound cover. Navigating each of these tunnels and even digging new ones were a few dozen new-type badniks specifically made to drill and mine.

First type was essentially a drill with a large, smoothed, cylindrical body, skinny arms and tank treads for legs. Small red eyes on either side of it's drill. Large as the tunnels it dug... and yet, strangely cute. Not so much their bother unit...

They were these taller badniks with double pickaxe arms that spun at super speed and mined out minerals and metals like they were merely canned food on shelves. Tens of chunks of ore spilled out around them, meaning that they knew where to dig, exactly. They were tauric and their legs were arachnid. Similar eyes to the wider brother badniks mentioned before.

Cindy's screen flashed again to reveal a new scene. This one showed the convoys. They were surprisingly not well guarded for how overwhelming the castle forces were. I'd call it short-sighted, but maybe the enemy didn't think anyone would be fool enough to try and get in. Who could fight all of the robots inside, after all?

Regardless, the only guard there was a rather normal looking mole robo-mobian. And that was even more insult, to be honest. Moles had terrible eyesight. ... That was only upon first glance however. There were two other guarding robo-mobians that came walking up to the mole. A squirrel and a rather large walrus. The squirrel spoke and seemed to be a woman. "The next few boxes will be the last of this batch of trucks."

The mole nodded while feeling his claws together. "Mmmn- excellent. Prep the loaders, pronto! Oban's not very nice to poor workers and we don't want him thinking that's what WE are. Scrap metal isn't a good look for anybody, mmmh?"

"Hmm... Interesting," Cindy mused as the two other guards turned and walked off. "It appears that this implies that there is intense disciplinary action for failure. But that can wait. It would ALSO appear as though we haven't the time to lose, unless we wish to wait for the next convoy or so... but I believe that we have indeed found our entry point." The screen flashed again to another scene... where there was merely a barren wall that was being used like a junk corner. A lot of broken equipment and not one single robot on the spot, other than one junked Picker- what I decided to dub the tall pickaxe weilding badniks. "Mmh... Here, I'll shift the angle to make certain."

With that, the camera view turned around, showing that the work was a safe couple of yards away. With all of the noise that was going on in that cave and the ore-filled crates essentially lining our path, they it would be easy enough. And the entrance of the cave seemed to be on the left of that shot, meaning that we were close to the area. "It appears to be a godsend, Master." The screen flashed again and displayed the radar once more. A few feet ahead of us was a radiating, dark blue blip. It was a small ways away from the convoy, but also away from any red dots at the same time.

Nodding to her, I looked at Knuckles and walked over to him, weaker rock debris crushing under my feet along the tunnel floor. Careful not to get too close while the echidna was shoveling out more rock and ore with those ... chaos shovels? ... Chaos Shovels. I called out his name several times. "Knuckles! Knuckles! Quit digging, Knucklehead!"

Another strike flew for the weak tunnel wall, but stopped short of making contact as rocks and such began to settle around us. He turned around to look at me, blinking and tilting his head. "What?"

I showed him Cindy and the radar as he leaned in and squinted. "Dig us over to that dark blue blip. It's a perfect entry point, according to the microbot cameras outside."

At the mention of microbots, he just cocked his brow...

With an annoyed, dull glare, I groaned. "Just trust me, okay?"

With a shrug, the echidna let it go and attempted to orientate himself toward the blip. "Uh..." He made two 360's on the spot before looking down at Cindy. "Okay, in WHAT direction? I'm not all that good with uh... well, with radars."

She giggled a bit, but answered his question. "Turn to the front of the tunnel."

He did so with an awkward straightness to him as he held up his claws and just stared like a lost child.

"Now turn slightly to your left."

He began to turn, but as he did so, she said, "Stop." And he grunted, immediately freezing! "Perfect! The direction you're facing is the precise direction in which you should dig. I will alert you when you've dug enough, Sir Knuckles. Then, you will turn to your right and punch an entry hole..."

Clawing his way through the wall's inside, Knuckles was careful not to disturb it so much that it collapsed. And before too long, we'd reached our destination...

One shovel-clawed fist busted through the wall to the other side, then tore down, ripping rock and ore away to tumble to the ground! After a few precision punches more, the Red echidna crawled free of the hole and looked around, still low to the ground. Amy and I crawled out behind him, carefully scouting around ourselves. Miraculously, we seemed to be alright. No robot had noticed us and they were all still going about their business.

As Knuckles hugged down behind one of the nearby crates, Amy and I hid behind the busted mine cart. The red echidna turned to look at us, then back over at the bots, who were hard at work, breaking down walls and carving out their resources. Most of it was metal. The drillbots would sometimes come by the pickers. When they did, the drill in their head would pull up and expose a hole, then suck up the ore in a powerful vacuum, collecting it all within. "Looks like the Metal Legion is gathering materials for something. A lot of metals going to something, whatever it is."

I nodded my head as I watched all of this. It was so efficient that it was almost exciting... but I kept cool. This wasn't the time for taking note.

Looking away from all that, I turned my attention to the five assembled transports at the entrance of the cave. They were Eighteen Wheelers... but without the wheel part. Instead, they had strange thrusters of about the same number that appeared to be of a combustion type. They probably burned fossil fuels to use them. There was also one further difference. There was no use for a driver. The cab was entirely a machine merely shaped like the truck's cab. No inside to be had or needed, apparently. Automated. This seemed like yet another lucky break. It meant there was no need to worry about being discovered by the driver.

Away from all of that, I found that there were not enough crates lining our path toward the transports to use them for cover About half way there- in a dotted path, might I add- they ran out...

Looking down at Cindy, I nodded. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Easily, master. Allow me a moment and be ready to err... book it? What a strange phrase. Oh well~. Now then..."

I poked my head up from cover and looked over at the mole, then around at the mining bots. Nothing happened for a long moment... Then, just as the mole was beginning to turn his head toward us, his body shuddered, eyes turning blue! The same thing happened to the bots and even the other robo-mobians! I watched in amazement as they all looked around and even right around at us a few times!

Knuckles and Amy began to take notice of this as well, blinking and looking a bit confused. Amy pipped up, looking at me with a cocked brow. "Didn't they just see us? They looked right at us and didn't even flinch."

And in response, I grinned and said, "Yeah. That's right. That's what Cindy just did," much to their intrigue.

As the mole settled down again, he left his spot, walking over to his friends as they began to discuss what just happened.

"We must move now, Master. I do not know how long their systems will take to reset from the reconfiguration."

I nodded. "R-"

"And please." I choked back the word forming in my throat, then froze. "Be as quiet as you possibly can. There is no way to keep them from hearing you. I can merely assure that they cannot "see" us."

... I nodded again in silence, sweat running the side of my face as I got up to expose myself before the others, much to their unease. Walking out of cover, I stood there and watched the talking robo-mobians. They didn't say anything that wasn't predictable for the situation, but it also seemed they didn't even notice their eyes were a different color... Maybe they couldn't. Robot visuals can be hard to get right.

Looking around at the mining bots, none of them even seemed to turn from their work.

None of them had noticed me standing there. With a smile on my face, I looked over to Knuckles and Amy and waved them on to follow. Then, we all quickly walked over to the transports. Lucky us. The three of the trailers were left wide open. The middle one being the emptiest, a few large crates full of materials sitting at the back in perfect orderly fashion. I carefully climbed my way inside, walking to the back as Amy followed me inside.

Knuckles lifted his hands and let his shovel claws disappear into embers... but that made an unwelcome, loud, resonating sound, much to his and our alarm!

The robot mole twitched at the sound and immediately whirled around, eyes frantically scanning the area as he shouted, "Who's there, mh?!"

I panicked and waved the echidna in as he carefully moved inside as naturally as he could, but the truck shivered a bit! I harshly whispered, "To the back!"

We all piled in atop the crates and their dirty contents as the bot approached with a scrutinizing squint. We did our best to lay as flat to the rocks, ores and such as we could, though anyone who wasn't a robot would obviously see pink, yellow and red when they looked at us, so this might have seemed a bit silly.

The mole stopped in front of our trailer and looked inside... but never really directly at us. Jumping up into the trailer, all three of us were on edge and ready for the worst... He walked up to the crates, looking down at them, then open their tops... Tilting his head, he cocked a brow. "... Must be the truck." He turned away from us and walked out of the trailer, but we still dared not let out sighs or breaths of any kind. "Gonna need to get the techies to look them over, mmmh. Glitchy hunks of junk. Nugh..." He jumped out as his friends came over.

"Anything weird," the squirrel woman asked.

"No, just the truck acting up. I thought for sure they were fixed, but the bugs are still there, I guess." He was heavily puzzled by the looks of things, but none the wiser. With the shake of his head, he shrugged and turned to the walrus. "Get Ratchet to look into them when we get back, Helmer, mmmh."

"Gotcha boss!" The walrus saluted in an entirely new way to me. He slammed his balled fist to the opposite shoulder and stood at attention. This probably wouldn't be useful to us, but it may be a good way of indicating our enemy for the future.

"Indeed... Metals! Pick up the slack! We're behind schedule, mmmh!"

They all seemed to walk away, leaving us with nothing but the noise of digging and grinding in the distance.

... We sighed after a while, resting there against the hard ore beneath us. They were not comfortable in the least, but they were more comfortable than a moment ago with the added pins and needles, if you catch my drift.

Amy looked over to me and asked, "Well, my dress is gonna need some soaking, but that's beside everything else. What now?"

Sitting up, I looked over to her. "We wait. That's all we can do. Patience, silence and level heads are what this all rides on, now. They'll eventually take us right where we need to be, then, we follow the energy signatures of our fellow mobians to wherever their being held and free them all."

Knuckles groaned a bit, turning over onto his back to lay there, a leg atop the other and hands behind his head. The rocks must not have bothered him much at all. "I hate all of this waiting...! But I can't think of another way, so I'm stuck with this plan of your's..."

Shrugging at that, I put Cindy in my lap and asked, "Still pushing out the signal to HQ?"

"Without fail, Master. I've even took the liberty of making certain our last known location will be broadcast to our friends should this signal be cut off. Jamming and the like are certain to be a factor. I am also providing feedback of all we see to make certain comrades will not be stumbling in the dark. However, there is something that troubles me..."

I tilted my head at that. "And what's that?"

"The enemy is apparently willing to destroy their own men. When I think of the things Lady Amy has told us about this Coal, there is no sense to this. Why would a man such as himself make that out to be a heavenly fate? He was obviously delusional, if he truly believed that. With that said, he must b-"

"Guys, shh," Amy alerted us as I snapped up from Cindy to look at her! She was glaring passed me with a hand pointing out of the trailer. I turned to see pickers hauling crates back toward the transports in three perfectly uniform lines. Their spider legs worked so efficiently and quickly. These were different from their working friends. They had actual arms instead of those spinning pick-axes.

-Taka-taka-taka-taka-taka-taka!-

Multiply that by ten and overlap them, then you might have something close to what it sounded like to hear those picky, skinny legs of theirs stepping along the ground.

As the first in line to our trailer got mere inches away from the entry way, it lifted it's crate into the bed and pushed it further inside. It's arms stretched as it did this, allowing it to push the crate as far back into my own as it could, not even having to strain in order to do that! Yet still, it did not see us...

The robot turned itself to the side, but only it's body. It legs remained stationary. Then, it walked out of line and away from the trailer with another of it's kind following close behind. The next guy in line stepped forward and did exactly as the one before it had., pushing it's crate inside and stepping out of line, but in the opposite direction. One other followed close behind like last time.

This process continued on and on while we kept painfully silent and still. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest. I know they couldn't see us, being that their eyes were still blue, but it was still not a comfortable place to be.

After the very last of them were gone, the three robo-mobians walked up to the trails. The mole took hold of a door in each hand, then forced the squeaky things shut with a -Tsom!-, leaving us with our only light being from Cindy's screen! Outside, we could clearly hear K-chunks and other metal squeaks. By the time that was done, the doors were given a light shake of some kind and that pretty much ended what must have been the locking of the doors. Now, we were thoroughly locked into this course of action. "Mmh! Alright, that's more like it! Are the other two secure, mmmh?"

"Yup!" The female voice of the squirrel.

"Locked tighter than a frozen jail cell, boss!" The male voice of the walrus.

"No need for such enthusiasm, Helmer. It's just a lock, mmmh?"

"Err... Sorry, boss. But I can't lie. This is kinda fun to me!"

"You would think mining is fun~. Weren't you a miner when they converted you?"

The walrus started to say something, but the mole shut him down quickly. "Enough already! We are late. So very late, mmmh?! Do you like the idea of being part of the product? I think not, mmmn! Now. Mocha, if you don't mind. Make us even for the day."

"Ah. Right..."

There was silence directly after that. We all exchanged glances between each other, but immediately after that, A roaring engine's -VRUUUHM!- made us gasp aloud, eyes wide! I felt like my heart stop for a split second there before I felt myself breathe again.

The mole was saying something outside, but the engine was totally blocking him out for me! And then, we shuddered in place, before the engine grew louder! The boxes beneath and around us shifted, much like ourselves and the rest of the trailer and I felt like we rose from the ground a bit! Then came the constant feeling of increasing movement speed that obviously signaled the fact that we were on our way.

I could no longer hear the mole even in the slightest, meaning we'd left the cave... or the sound around us had deafened me.

It would be some time before the trucks would reach their destination and from then on, we'd need to be even more careful.

I looked between my friends once more, then spoke as loudly as I could so they could hear me. "If we get discovered from this point on, we're toast! Make sure that you don't press your luck around anyone!"

Cindy chimed in as well, having raised her voice volume, yet spoken as if she weren't straining. "And due to the test of my ability to "blind" our enemies to our presence, I now understand how long it can last. Two minutes all all we get from this action and it takes a substantial amount of battery. This has cost my battery to lose approximately five-point-twenty-seven percent of my stores. I am currently down to ninety-four-point-seventy-three percent. Said battery renews with solar energy, however it takes time. A minute for every singular percent. We cannot abuse this ability, as it would only alot us approximately one-hundred and twenty minutes at best, which is hopeful, due to the need of sunlight in order to charge."

With all of that said, it was understandable for me to be sweating and nervous about this whole thing. Everything was a gamble. And it looks like our "invisibility" option would be one as well. I swallowed dryly, but over all of the noise from the truck, who would hear such a soft sound? "Right," I spoke too softly for anyone to hear.

Knuckles turned to me with a seriousness. "So, what's the plan, then?!"

The plan? At this point, there was hardly what you would call a plan. I couldn't say that, though. I took a deep breath, drawing in the raw smell of dirt, rock and freshly excavated metals. It wasn't the worst smell to me in particular, being who I was... if that makes sense. Exhaling it back out, I was able to think a little bit more clearly, strangely enough. "The plan hasn't changed! Intel is both secondary and vital to the success of this mission! And to gather it, we need to remain undetected! This just means that we can't rely on Cindy for it!"

Amy squinted at that, seeming nervous. "But what if literally every inch of the place is swarming with guards?!"

To that, there was only one answer, which was not a nice one to think about. Dipping my head low, I momentarily paused... then looked at her with a grave seriousness to my face. "Then we'll have less than two hours to get in, gather intel, plan accordingly to what we find out and free the prisoners! No two ways around that!"

She frowned at that answer, but seemed to understand. Looking away and down at the rocky materials she was essentially laid atop, she spoke. "Well... here's hoping we can actually do this right!" The hedgehog brought her hands to grip each other and seemed to pray for success, but I couldn't hear what she was saying at that point. It was all just whispers.

I sat there with a nervousness in my chest as I looked away and at the doors of the trailer, letting the shivering, clunking sounds of the full crates fill my ears.

As the truck hovered noisily down the mountain road, it brought us ever closer to the castle, robots still swarming the place from on high and down low. Just a few more minutes and we'd be in over our necks with the Metal Legion...

* * *

 ** _Part 1/3 - To be continued..._**

 ** _Okay... So, I planned to release this and the next two chapters together... Obviously, that's not gonna happen._**

 ** _I'm just burnt out, honestly. I came so close to finishing it up to be that way, but I'm just not satisfied with what I have in the next chapters. It came out a bit hasty and unrealistic. I want to redo them, but like I said. I'm burnt out of Sonic. I struggled way more than I should have getting to a point in which I felt comfortable with this one chapter._**

 ** _I'm going to take this time to go into Hiatus and clear my mind. Hopefully, not for as long as it took to get this out._**

 ** _There is more to this than what I'm saying, but I feel it shouldn't be brought up here, of all places. Look up Net Neutrality, if you really must, but take my word for it. You won't like the recent news about it._**

 ** _I feel dirty for even looking at it, so I'm just gonna shut up about it._**

 ** _I'll get myself out of this funk before too long, but I need to just get away from all of this, right now. It's almost Christmas and I want to find some way to make it better. This ain't gonna ruin my favorite holiday._**

 ** _See ya~._**


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